^<0F  NWCE)^ 
SEP    5  2D06 


SOME    OPINIONS    OF    THE    PRESS    ON 
THE   LAST   EDITION. 


Dr  Dennis,  in  a  letter  to  the  Publishers,  says  : — "  I  value  the  book  highly  as  a  pro- 
duct of  exact  scholarship,  and  full  of  information  concerning  what  I  believe  to  be  one 
of  the  noblest  and  most  beneficent  movements  of  the  past  century.  Dr  Warneck  to  be 
sure  dates  his  history  from  the  Reformation,  but  the  expansion  and  momentum  of 
missions  comes  largely  within  the  limits  of  the  century  just  closed." 

"Professor  Warneck  is  universally  recognised  as  the  greatest  living  authority  on  the 
history  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  every  British  student  of  missions  must  be  grateful  to 
Dr  Robson  and  the  Publishers  for  giving  us  this  volume." — Chronicle  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society. 

"  For  those  who  are  interested  in  the  history  and  progress  of  modern  missions  we 
know  of  no  better  book  on  the  subject." — Aberdeen  Journal. 

"  This  notable  work." — The  Liverpool  Mercury. 

"  In  every  way  the  best  and  most  complete  that  has  been  published.  It  is  a  well- 
known  manual,  indispensable  to  every  mission  library.  .  .  .  The  most  comprehensive 
and  trustworthy  outline  of  missions  it  is  possible  to  procure.  We  trust  that  it  will  have 
a  wide  circulation,  and  deepen  knowledge  of  the  extent  and  needs  of  the  great  mission 
field  of  the  churches." — Missionary  Record  of  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 

"  A  wonderful  summary  of  world-wide  activities;  but  to  the  English  reader  it  will  be 
most  welcome  for  its  account  of  the  work  done  by  Continental  agencies." — The  Record. 

"A  work  of  great  and  well  ordered  erudition,  which  surveys  all  the  operations  of 
Christendom  in  planting  its  church  in  the  fields  of  other  faiths.  An  invaluable  source 
of  information  for  everyone  interested  in  learning  the  facts  of  the  development  of 
Christian  missions  throughout  the  world,  it  is  also  remarkable  for  the  impartial,  unpre- 
possessed and  scientific  spirit  with  which  it  faces  its  questions." — Scotsman. 

"  No  one  can  read  this  book  without  being  impressed  by  what  Dr  Robson  calls  the 
writer's  'enlightened  sobriety  of  judgment,'  as  well  as  by  the  eminently  scientific 
manner  in  which  he  marshals  his  facts  and  makes  them  lead  up  to  general  principles." 
—  The  Glasgow  Herald. 

"  The  preacher  who  reads  this  book  carefully  ought  to  be  able  to  produce  many  in- 
teresting and  instructive  missionary  speeches. " — Dominion  Presbyterian 


HISTORY     OF 
PROTESTANT     MISSIONS 


/ 


Wtfanc/K 


^v 


% 


OUTLINE    OF    A    HISTO 


SEP   12 1948    " 


OF 


FR.OM    THE 

REFORMATION  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME 
With  an  Appendix  concerning  Roman  Catholic  ^Missions 

BY 

GUSTAV     WARNECK 

PROFESSOR    AND    DOCTOR    OF    THEOLOGY 

THIRD    ENGLISH  EDITION 
'Being    ^Authorised   Translation  from  the   Eighth   Cferman  Edition 

EDITED    BY 

GEORGE   ROBSON,    D.D. 

WITH    PORTRAIT    OF    THE    AUTHOR    AND    TWELVE    MAPS 


FLEMING     H.    REVELL     COMPANY 

NEW    YORK     CHICAGO     TORONTO 

190  6 


PRINTED   BY 

MORRISON   AND  GIBB  LIMITED,    EDINBURGH 

FOR 

OLIPHANT    ANDERSON    <fc   FERRIER 

EDINBURGH    AND   LONDON 


CONTENTS 


Portrait  or  the  Author  .  Frontispiece 

Author's  Preface  to  Eighth  Edition  .  xiii 

Editor's  Preface  ........      xv 

List  of  Maps         ......  0  xvii 

PART  I 

Missionary  Life  at  Home 

INTRODUCTION 

1.  The  eternal  origin  of  the  universality  of  salvation,  p.  3.  2.  Its  real- 
isation through  Christianity,  p.  3.  3.  Missionary  character  of  the 
Christian  Church,  p.  4.  4.  Apostolic  and  post-Apostolic  missions, 
p.  5.  5.  Christianising  of  the  people,  p.  5.  6.  The  medieval  period 
of  missions,  p.  6.  7.  The  opening  of  the  world  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  Catholic  missions,  p.  7      .  .  .  .         pp.  3-7 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Age  of  the  Reformation 

8.  Absence  of  missionary  action  in  the  Protestant  Church  explained,  p.  8. 
9.  The  idea  of  missions  lacking  in  the  Reformers,  p.  8.  10.  Examin- 
ation of  Luther's  position,  p.  10.  11.  Melanchthon  and  Bucer,  p.  17. 
12.  Zwingli,  p.  19.  13.  Calvin,  p.  19  [with  note  on  Knox,  p.  20]. 
14.  Saravia,  the  first  advocate  of  missions,  p.  20.  15.  Fruitless 
missionary  attempt  in  Brazil,  p.  22.  16.  Also  among  the  Lapps, 
p.  23  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       pp.  8-24 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Age  of  Orthodoxy 

Section.  I. — In  Germany.  17.  Interest  in  the  Orient  :  Peter  Heiling, 
p.  25.  18.  Isolated  utterances  in  favour  of  missions,  p.  26.  19.  Ad- 
verse utterances. — Opinion  of  the  Faculty  of  Wittenberg  in  opposition 
to  missions,  p.  26.  20.  The  historical  and  dogmatic  basis  of  the  denial 
of  a  missionary  obligation  by  Join  Gerhard,  p.  28.  21.  Missionary 
life  suppressed  by  the  prevalent  views,  p.    31.      22.  Justinian  von 


vi  CONTENTS 

Weltz,  and  his  summons  to  united  missionary  effort,  p.  32.  23. 
Ursinus  :  his  reply  to  von  Weltz,  p.  37.  24.  Spener  and  Scriver  on 
lack  of  missionary  zeal,  p.  39.  25.  Leibnitz  an  advocate  of  missions, 
p.  41  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    pp.  25-42. 

Section  II.— Outside  of  Germany.  26.  Holland  :  colonial  enterprise 
and  mission  work,  p.  42.  27.  The  Dutch  East  Indian  Company  the 
medium,  p.  44.  28.  Estimate  of  its  mission  work,  p.  45.  29.  Mis- 
sions to  the  Dutch  colonies  in  America,  p.  46.  30.  England  :  the 
colonising  of  New  England,  p.  47.  31.  John  Eliot  and  the  Indians, 
p.  48.  32.  The  Long  Parliament :  the  S.  P.  G.  :  Cromwell,  p.  49. 
33.  Fruitlessness  of  these  beginnings,  p.  50.  34.  Denmark  :  the 
first  mission  to  India,  p.  51  .  .  .  .     pp.  42-52 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Age  of  Pietism 

35.  The  missionary  genius  of  Pietism,  p.  53.  36.  Aug.  Herm.  Francke, 
and  his  relation  to  it,  p.  54.  37.  The  opposition  of  Orthodoxy,  p. 
56.  38.  Halle  and  the  Danish  mission  to  India,  p.  57.  3S.  Danish 
missions  to  Lapland  and  Greenland  :  Hans  Egede,  p.  58.  40.  Count 
von  Zinzendorf,  p.  58.  41.  The  Moravian  Brethren  :  their  character, 
p.  59.  42.  The  beginning  of  Moravian  missions,  p.  62.  43.  Their 
progress,  p.  63.  44.  The  missionary  spirit  of  the  Moravians,  p.  64. 
45.  Missionary  decay  in  Holland,  p.  67.  46.  Stray  beginnings  in 
England,  p.  67.  47.  Prevalent  irrcligion,  p.  68.  48.  The  Methodist 
Revival,  p.  70  ;  with  notes  on  Scotland  and  America,  p.  72      .     pp.  53-73 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Present  Age  of  Missions 

49.  Dawn  of  the  modern  missionary  spirit,  p.  74.  50.  Cook's  dis- 
coveries, p.  74.  51.  William  Carey,  p.  75.  52.  Influence  of  geo- 
graphical discoveries  and  new  means  of  communication,  p.  76. 
53.  The  new  ideas  of  political  freedom  and  of  the  rights  of  men  : 
Wilberforce,  p.  76.  54.  The  East  India  Company,  p.  78.  55. 
Ecclesiastical  opposition  to  missions,  p.  81.  56.  Consequent  initi- 
ation of  free  missionary  societies,  p.  82.  57.  Employment  of  qualified 
laymen  as  missionaries,  p.  83.  57a.  Relation  of  missions  to  Churches, 
p.  84.     57b.  "Women  and  lay  missionaries,  p.  85  .  .     pp.  74-85 

CHAPTER  V 

History  of  the  Foundation  and  Growth  of  Missionary 
Societies 

58.  Introductory,  p.  86.  i.  England.— 59.  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
p.  86.  60.  London  Missionary  Society,  p.  88.  61.  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society,  p.  90.     62.  The  S.  P.  G.,  p.  93.     63.  Other  Anglican 


CONTENTS  Vll 

societies  :  Melanesia^,  Universities',  and  South  African  missions,  p.  94. 
64.  Methodist  missions,  p.  96.  65.  Friends'  Mission,  Irish  and 
English  [with  note  on  Welsh]  Presbyterians,  p.  98.  66.  Societies 
and  Churches  in  Scotland,  p.  99.  67.  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  p.  100. 
68.  United  Presbyterian  Church,  p.  103.  69.  United  Free  Church 
of  Scotland,  p.  103.  70.  Similarity  of  principles  and  development, 
p.  104.  71.  New  motives  and  methods :  China  Inland  Mission, 
p.  104.  72.  East  London  Institute  ;  North  Africa  Mission  ;  Salva- 
tion Army,  p.  107.  73.  Women's,  Medical,  and  Bible  and  Tract 
Societies,  p.  108.  74.  Summary  of  British  mission  work,  p.  109. 
2.  North  America. — 75.  Missionary  revival ;  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  ;  • 
American  Missionary  Association,  p.  109.  76.  The  A.  B.  M.  U., 
p.  ,112.  77.  Episcopal  Societies,  p.  113.*  78.  Methodist  Societies,, 
p.  114.  79.  Presbyterian  Churches,  p.  115..  80.  Lutheran 
Churches,  p.  116/  81.  Societies  in  Canada,  p.  117.  82.  Student 
Volunteer  Movement,  p.  118.  83.  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance, 
with  Auxiliary  Societies  and  Summary,  p.  119.  3.  Germany. —  84. 
Decline  of  Halle  Missionary  Institute,  p.  121.  85.  Growth  of 
Moravian  missions,  p.  121.  86.  Father  Janicke,  p.  122.  87.  Basel 
Missionary  Society,  p.  123.  88.  The  Chrischona  Institute,  p.  124. 
89.  Berlin  I.,  p.  124.  90.  Rhenish  Society,  p.  125.  91.  North 
German  Missionary  Society,  p.  126.  92.  Leipsic  Missionary  Society, 
p.  127.  93.  Gossner  Society,  or  Berlin  II.,  p.  128.  94.  The  Her- 
mannsburg  Mission,  p.  129.  95.  Development  of  German  missionary 
life,  p.  130.  96.  Women's  Societies,  p.  131.  97.  Schleswig- 
Holstein  and  Ncukirchen  Societies,  p.  132.  98.  General  Evangelical 
Protestant  Society,  p.  132.     99.  Colonisation  era  ;  Berlin  III.,  p.  132. 

100.  Work  in  the  German  colonies  ;  Neuendettelsau  Society,  p.  133. 

101.  Recent  small  Societies,  p.  134.  102.  Recent  development, 
p.  135.  4.  Holland. — 103.  Dutch  Missionary  Society,  p.  135. 
104.  Later  Dutch  Societies,  p.  136.  105.  General  view,  p.  138. 
5.  France  and  French  Switzerland. — 106.  Paris  Missionary 
Society,  p.  139.  107.  Swiss  Mission  Romande,  p.  140.  6.  Scandi- 
navia.— 108.  Danish  Societies,  p.  140.  109.  Norwegian  Societies, 
p.  141.  110.  Swedish  Societies,  p.  142.  111.  Finnish  Societies, 
p.  144.  7.  Protestant  Colonies,  etc. — -112.  Local  Societies  in 
Australia,  India,  etc.,  p.  145.  8.  Review  of  the  situation.— 
113.  Summary  of  missionary  agencies  and  results,  p.  149.  114. 
Missionary  duty  of  the  Church,  p.  149.      115.  Missionary  methods, 

p.  150.     116.  Need  of  greater  unity,  p.  151      .  .  .  pp.  84-152 

APPENDIX   TO   PART   I 
Roman  Catholic  Missions 

Introductory  Note,  p.  153.  1.  Historical  Survey  of  Chief  Epochs  of  Enter- 
prise :  First  Epoch,  p.  155  ;  Second  Epoch,  p.  156  ;  Third  period, 
p.  157  ;  Home  Collecting  Societies  and  Contributions,  p.  158.  2.  The 
Congregatio  de  Propaganda  Fide,  p.  161.  3.  Missionary  Agencies 
under  the  Propaganda,  p.  163.  Missionary  Agencies  in  Germany, 
p.  166.     Note  on  British  Missionary  Agencies,  p.  167    .  pp.  153-168 


Vlll  CONTENTS 

PART  II 

The  Field  of  Evangelical  Missions 

INTRODUCTION 

117.  The  field  the  world,  p.  171.  118.  Apologetic  value  of  this  fact, 
p.  172.  119.  Modern  opening-up  of  the  world,  p.  172.  120.  Manner 
of  extension  of  Evangelical  Missions,  p.  172        .  _.  pp.  171-175 

CHAPTER   I 

America 

1.  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Alaska. — 121.  Danish  Mission  in 
Greenland,  p.  176.  122.  Moravian  Mission  in  Greenland,  p.  177. 
123.  Labrador,  p.  178.  124.  Alaska,  p.  179.  2.  British  North 
America. — 125.  Its  native  population,  p.  180.  126.  Political 
history,  p.  181.  127.  Beginning  of  missions,  p.  182.  128.  Present 
missionary  operations,  p.  183.  3.  United  States  and  Mexico. — 
129.  Present  population,  p.  186.  130.  The  Indian  population,  p. 
187.  131.  British  missions  to  Indians  :  Eliot,  p.  189.  132.  Mor- 
avian missions,  p.  191.  133.  American  work  among  Indians,  p.  192. 
134.  Work  among  the  negroes,  p.  193.  135.  Chinese  immigrants, 
p.  196.  135a.  S.  C.  Missions  in  British  North  America  and  United 
States,  p.  196.  136.  Mexico,  p.  197.  4.  West  Indies  and 
Central  America. — 137.  West  Indies :  slavery,  p.  197.  138.  Cuba, 
Haiti,  and  Porto  Rico,  p.  199.  139.  The  other  islands  :  Moravian 
beginnings,  p.  200.  140.  Moravian  extension,  p.  201.  141.  The 
English  Methodists,  p.  202.  142.  English  Baptists,  p.  203.  143.  The 
Anglican  Church,  p.  201.  144.  United  Presbyterian  Church  (Scotch), 
p.  205.  145.  Present  aspect  of  the  field,  p.  205.  145a.  R.  C. 
Missions  in  West  Indies,  p.  206.  146.  Central  America,  p.  206. 
5.  South  America. — 147.  General  aspect  of  the  field,  p.  207. 
148.  Paucity  of  missions,  p.  208.  149.  Dutch  Guiana,  p.  208. 
150.  British  Guiana,  p.  209.  151.  Ticrra  del  Fuego,  p.  211. 
Summary.— 152.  Statistical  results,  p.  213   .  .  pp.  176-213 


CHAPTER  II 

Africa 

153.  Introductory,  p.  214.  1.  The  West  Coast.— 154.  General,  p.  215. 
155.  French  Senegambia,  p.  215.  156.  Sierra  Leone,  p.  216. 
157.  Liberia,  p.  218.  158.  Gold  Coast,  p.  219.  159.  Slave  Coast, 
p.  221.  160.  Lagos  and  Yoruba,  p.  222.  161.  The  Niger  district, 
p.  224.  162.  Old  Calabar,  p.  225.  163.  Fernando  Po  and  Came- 
roons,  p.  226.  164.  French  Congo,  p.  227.  165.  Congo  Land,  p.  228. 
166.  Angola,  p.  231.  167.  Garengauze,  p.  231.  167a.  li.  C. 
Missions  in  West  Africa,  p.  232.     2.  South  Africa.— 168.  General, 


CONTENTS  IX 

p.  233.  169.  German  South-West,  p.  237.  170.  Cape  Colony, 
p.  238.  171.  Moravian  Mission,  p.  239.  172.  L.  M.  S.,  p.  240. 
173.  Wesleyans  :  Rhenish  Society,  p.  241.  174.  Berlin  I.  Mission, 
p.  241.  175.  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  p.  242.  176.  Anglican 
Church,  p.  243.  177.  Kaffraria,  p.  244.  178.  Natal  and  Zululand, 
p.  245.  179.  Swasiland,  p.  247.  ISO.'Basuto  Land,  p.  247. 
181.  Orange  River  Colony,  p.  248.  182.  Transvaal,  p.  249. 
183.  British  Bechuana  Land,  p.  250.  183a.  R.  0.  Missions  in  South 
Africa,  p.  252.  3.  East  African  Islands. — 184.  Mauritius  and 
Seychelles,  p.  253.  185.  Madagascar:  the  L.  M.  S.,  p.  253. 
186.  Other  Societies  in  Madagascar,  p.  255.  187.  The  French 
occupation,  p.  255.  187a.  B.  C.  Missions  in  East  African  Islands, 
p.  257.  4.  East  and  Central  Africa. — 188.  Krapf's  explora- 
tions, p.  257.  189.  Livingstone's  explorations,  p.  258.  190.  The 
Universities'  Mission,  p.  259.  191.  The  C.  M.  S.  in  East  Africa, 
p.  260.  192.  Uganda,  p.  261.  193.  The  Methodist  Free  Churches, 
p.  263.  194.  Entrance  of  German  Societies,  p.  263.  195.  Berlin 
III.,  p.  264.  196.  Konde  Land,  p.  264.  197.  L.  M.  S.  at  Tan- 
ganyika, p.  264.  198.  Church  of  Scotland  and  Blantyre,  p.  265. 
199.  Livingstonia,  p.  266.  199a.  R.  C.  Missions  in  East  and  Central 
Africa,  p.  267.  5.  North  Africa.— 200.  Introductory,  p.  268. 
201.  Swedish  Mission,  p.  269.  202.  English  North  Africa  Mission, 
p.  269.  203.  Statistics  for  Africa,  p.  270.  203a.  R.  C.  Missions  in 
North  Africa  and  Summary  for  Africa,  p.  270  .  .  pp.  214-271 


CHAPTER   III 

The  Old  Oriental  Churches 

204.  Unsuccess  of  missions  to  Mohammedans,  p.  272.  205.  Design  of 
reviving  the  Old  Oriental  Churches,  p.  273.  206.  Abyssinian  and 
Coptic  Churches,  p.  274.  207.  English  and  German  work  in  Pales- 
tine, p.  274.  208.  Missions  in  Syria  and  Arabia,  p.  275.  209- 
210.  American  missions  in  the  Turkish  Empire,  p.  276.  211.  Mis- 
sions in  Russia  and  Persia,  p.  277.  212.  Summary,  p.  278.  212a. 
Keith  Falconer  Mission  at  Aden,  p.  278 .  .  .  pp.  272-27! 


CHAPTER  IV 

Asia 

213.  Introductory,  p.  279.  I.  India.— 214.  Peoples  and  religions,  p.  280. 
215.  Caste,  p.  282.  216.  Earlier  Christian  missions,  p.  283.  217. 
Beginning  of  Evangelical  Missions  in  Southern  India,  p.  283.  218. 
William  Carey  and  his  companions,  p.  285.  219.  The  Anglican 
Church,  p.  287.  220.  Progress  of  mission  work  ;  Beginnings  among 
women,  p.  288.  221.  Influence  of  the  Mutiny,  p.  290.  222.  Sta- 
tistics of  Progress  since  1851,  p.  291.  223.  Quality  of  the  converts, 
p.  294.  224.  Hindu  reform  movements,  p.  295.  225.  Development 
of  missionary  methods,  p.  296.      226.  Introductory  to  geographical 


CONTENTS 

survey  of  missions,  p.  297.  227.  Tinnevelly,  p.  298.  228.  Madras 
district  (Madura,  Arcot),  p.  299.  229.  Telugu  district,  p.  300. 
230.  Ceylon,  general,  p.  301.  231.  Ceylon,  geographically,  p.  302. 
232.  Travancore  and  Cochin,  p.  303.  233.  Malabar,  Kurg,  Kanara, 
Mysore,  p.  304.  234.  Mahrattaland,  Bombay,  Gujarat,  Scinde, 
Rajputana,  p.  305.  235.  Punjaub ;  Tibetan  Mission,  p.  307. 
236.  North-West  Provinces,  p.  308.  237.  Central  Provinces,  p.  310. 
238.  Bengal :  Chota  Nagpur,  p.  310.  239.  Santhalistan,  Calcutta, 
p.  312.  239a.  Tibet,  p.  314.  240.  Assam,  p.  314.  241.  Burma, 
p.  315.  242.  Upper  Burma,  p.  316.  2.  Non-British.  Further 
India. — 243.  Siam  and  Malacca,  p.  317.  Appendix  to  1  and  2. 
R.  C.  Missions  in  India,  pp.  318-324.  3.  Dutch  India.— 244. 
General  view,  p.  324.  245.  Modern  mission  work,  p.  326.  246. 
Sumatra,  p.  327.  247.  Nias  and  Batu  Islands,  p.  328.  248.  Java, 
p.  329.  249.  Borneo,  p.  330.  250.  Celebes,  Sangi  and  Talaut 
Islands,  p.  331.  251.  Molucca  and  Lesser  Sunda  Islands,  p.  332. 
Appendix.  R.  C.  Missions  in  Indian  Archipelago,  p.  332.  4.  China 
and  Korea. — 252.  The  Chinese  Empire,  p.  334.  253.  Language, 
p.  335.  254.  Religions,  p.  336.  255.  Earlier  missions :  Jesuits, 
p.  337.  256.  First  modern  missionaries,  p.  338.  257.  Enforced 
opening  of  China,  p.  339.  258.  The  Taiping  Rebellion,  p.  340. 
259.  Modern  missions,  p.  340.  260.  Statistical  results,  p.  342. 
261.  The  Boxer  Outbreak,  p.  343.  262.  Geographical  survey : 
Hongkong,  Canton,  Fo-kien  (inch  Formosa),  Che-kiang,  p.  347. 
263.  Kiang-su,  Shan-tung,  Pe-chi-li,  p.  349.  264.  Twelve  inland 
provinces,  p.  351.  265.  Manchuria,  p.  352.  266.  Korea,  p.  353. 
Appendix.  R.  C.  Missions  in  China  and  Korea,  pp.  353-357. 
5.  Japan. — 267.  The  Mikado  and  religions,  p.  357.  268.  Opening 
of  Japan,  p.  359.  269.  Growth  of  missions,  p.  360.  270.  The  early 
advance,  p.  364.  271.  The  reaction,  p.  365.  272.  Christianity, 
"Japauism,"  and  independence,  p.  367.  273.  Review  of  situation, 
p.  369.  274.  Missionary  Societies  and  centres  of  work,  p.  371. 
Appendix.  R.  C.  Missions  in  Japan,  pp.  374-376.  275.  6.  Statist- 
ical results  for  Asia,  p.  377  ....  pp.  279-377 


CHAPTER  V 

Oceania 

276.  Introductory,  p.  378.  277.  Evangelical  Missions  in  general, 
p.  380.  I.  Polynesia. — 278.  Hawaii,  Marquesas,  and  Paumotu 
Islands,  p.  382.  279.  Society  and  Hervey  Islands,  p.  384.  280. 
Samoan  Islands,  p.  386.  281.  Tonga  or  Friendly  Islands,  p.  386. 
282.  Fiji  Islands,  p.  387.  2.  Melanesia.— 283.  New  Caledonia, 
Loyalty  Islands,  p.  388.  284.  New  Hebrides,  p.  3S9.  285.  Santa 
Cruz  and  Solomon  Isles,  Bismarck  Archipelago,  p.  390.  286.  New 
Guinea,  p.  392.  3.  Micronesia.— 287.  General  account,  p.  393. 
288.  Gilbert,  Marshall,  and  Caroline  Islands,  p.  394.  4.  Australia. 
—289.  General  account,  p.  394.  290.  Work  among  natives,  Papuas, 
Chinese,  and  Kanakas,  p.  395.  5.  New  Zealand.— 291.  General 
account,  p.  396.       292.  Mission  agencies  amongst  Maoris,  p.  397. 


CONTENTS  xi 

293.  Statistical  results,  p.  398.  Appendix.  R.  C.  Missions  in 
Oceania,  pp.  398-401.  294.  Statistical  results  for  tlie  world, 
p.  401  .  .  .  .  .  .  pp.  378-401 


CHAPTER  VI 

A  Contribution  to  the  History  of  Missionary  Methods 

>,  Conceptions  of  the  task  of  missions,  p.  402.  296.  The  aim  of 
missions,  p.  403.  297.  Bearing  of  these  on  missionary  methods, 
p.  404.  298.  Criticism  of  S.  V.  M.  U.  motto,  p.  406.  Appendix. 
B.  C.  Missionary  Methods,  p.  408  ...  pp.  402-411 


CHAPTER  VII 

Estimate  of  the  Results  of  Evangelical  Missions 

299.  The  question  as  to  results,  p.  412.  300.  Present  attainments 
numerically  reckoned,  p.  412.  301.  Three  points  of  view,  p.  415. 
302.  Initial  character  of  results,  p.  415.  303.  Hindrances  to  mis- 
sions, p.  416.  304.  Results  beyond  statistics,  p.  417.  305.  Quality 
of  native  converts  and  congregations,  p.  418.  306.  The  goal  to  be 
attained  by  missions,  p.  419        ....  pp.  412-420 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE  TO  EIGHTH 
EDITION 

In  the  three  and  a  half  years  which  have  elapsed  since  the 
publication  of  the  Seventh  Edition,  not  only  have  Evangelical 
Missions  made  considerable  progress  in  many  of  their  fields  of 
labour,  but  both  at  home  and  abroad  various  events  have 
happened  which  have  an  important  bearing  on  their  de- 
velopment. To  be  able  to  record  both  of  these  in  a  new 
edition  was  to  me,  accordingly,  a  pleasant  task.  But  the 
changes  embodied  in  the  Eighth  Edition  are  not  confined  to  this 
record.  The  book  has  been  recast  in  several  parts,  and,  in 
particular,  has  been  enlarged  by  an  appendix  dealing  with 
Koman  Catholic  Missions,  which  I  hope  will  be  welcome  to  my 
readers.  In  view  of  the  yearly  augmenting,  and  unhappily 
not  always  peaceful,  contact  between  the  Missions  of  the  two 
Confessions,  it  has  become  increasingly  needful  on  the  Evan- 
gelical side  to  have  at  least  a  general  acquaintance  with 
Catholic  Missions,  their  organisation,  extension,  and  methods,  as 
well  as  with  their  means  of  support  and  their  results.  For  this 
appendix  I  would  gladly  have  awaited  a  new  edition  of  the 
Missiones  Catholicce  as  the  official  source,  but  I  have  hoped  for 
it  in  vain;  since  1901  no  new  edition  has  appeared — at  least  I 
have  not,  in  spite  of  every  endeavour,  obtained  any  information 
of  its  appearance. 

Further,  while  passing  this  edition  through  the  press,  I 
have  received  quite  a  number  of  items  of  information,  and  also 
statistical  details  of  more  or  less  importance,  concerning  Evan- 
gelical as  well  as  Catholic  Missions,  of  a  large  proportion  of 
which,  unhappily,  I  could  make  no  use,  or  could  use  only  in 
the  summary  of  statistics,  as  the  sheets  had  been  already 
printed  off.  This  Eighth  Edition,  accordingly,  is  already,  in  the 
moment  of  its  issue,  in  need  of  further  amendment ;  but  this 
is  unavoidable  in  the  case  of  a  history  which  is  in  such  constant 
flux  as  is  the  history  of  Missions.  It  has  to  be  acknowledged 
that  the  difficulty  of  procuring  the  multitudinous  sources  has 
made  it  impossible  for  me  to  give  the  most  recent  position  of 


xiv  AUTHORS   PREFACE  TO   EIGHTH   EDITION 

every  missionary  society  and  of  every  mission  field,  i.e.  the 
position  as  at  the  end  of  1903, — the  Beports  of  Societies  for 
1904  are  in  general  not  yet  to  hand.  On  the  whole,  this  is  not 
of  much  account,  only  it  introduces  into  the  statements  a 
certain  inequality,  which  is,  however,  unavoidable.  With  refer- 
ence to  the  statistics,  I  do  not  repeat  the  old  complaints ;  wTe 
will  probably  never  be  able  to  get  beyond  an  approximate 
accuracy. 

DE,  WARNECK. 

Halle,  Advent  1904. 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE 

There  is  probably  no  man  living  who  has  a  completer  know- 
ledge of  modern  Missions  than  Dr.  Warneck,  who  holds  a 
professorial  chair  dealing  with  Missions  in  the  University  of 
Halle.  They  have  been  his  life-long  study.  Not  only  the  pro- 
gress of  Missions,  but  the  questions  of  principle  and  policy 
which  constitute  the  science  of  Missions,  have  drawn  from  his 
pen  works  too  numerous  to  mention  here,  which  command  the 
attention  of  all  students  of  Missions. 

Of  all  existing  histories  of  Protestant  Missions,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  characterising  Dr.  Warneck's  as  by  far  the  best, 
not  only  in  respect  of  the  completeness  and  orderliness  of  its 
survey,  but  also  in  respect  of  insight  into  historical  develop- 
ment and  enlightened  sobriety  of  judgment.  The  comparative 
fulness  with  which  Continental,  and  particularly  German, 
Missions  to  the  heathen  are  described  will  supply  what  has 
long  been  a  felt  want  in  English  missionary  literature.  Of 
course,  the  history  is  still  only  an  outline.  Every  year  is 
happily  rendering  an  adequate  history  of  the  ever-expanding 
enterprise  more  difficult. 

It  is  five-and-twenty  years  since  the  first  edition  of  Dr. 
Warneck's  Outline  History  of  Protestant  Missions  was  published. 
In  1884  there  appeared  an  English  translation  of  the  Second 
Edition  by  Dr.  Thomas  Smith ;  the  book  was  only  a  fourth  of 
the  size  of  the  present  volume.  After  a  long  interval,  and  in 
view  of  the  great  advances  which  had  taken  place  in  the  inter- 
vening years,  Dr.  Warneck  re-wrote  his  History  in  an  enlarged 
form.  This  Third  Edition  appeared  in  1895,  and  no  fewer  than 
five  editions,  each  revised  and  enlarged  according  to  the  most 
recent  information,  have  since  been  published. 

In  the  Preface  to  the  English  Edition,  published  in  1901, 
and  corresponding  to  the  Seventh  German  Edition,  I  mentioned 
that  the  first  part  had  been  translated  by  the  Eev.  J.  P. 
Mitchell.  M.A.,  and  the  second  part  by  the  Eev.  Campbell  M. 
Macleroy,  B.D.  In  the  present  edition  the  whole  text  has 
been  revised  ;  it  embodies  the  numerous  changes  and  additions 


XVI  editor's  preface 

in  the  Eighth.  German  Edition  ;  and  Dr.  "Warneck,  when  reading 
the  English  proof-sheets,  has  taken  the  trouble  to  correct  many 
of  the  figures  according  to  later  returns.  Entirely  new  and 
most  important  is  the  addition  of  the  Appendices,  containing 
the  history  of  Bonian  Catholic  Missions ;  for  the  translation  of 
these  Appendices  thanks  are  due  to  Miss  E.  I.  M.  Boyd,  M.A., 
of  Newnham  College,  Cambridge.     Chapter  VI.  is  also  new. 

The  very  numerous  references  in  the  original  work  to 
German  and  other  Continental  sources  of  information  are 
almost  entirely  omitted,  as  the  student  to  whom  such  references 
would  be  of  value  will  naturally  make  use  of  the  German 
Edition.  A  few  notes  have  been  added,  but  only  where  sup- 
plementary statement  or  explanation  seemed  desirable.  The 
numbering  of  the  paragraphs  and  a  series  of  maps  have  been 
introduced  into  the  English  Edition,  in  the  hope  of  rendering  it 
of  greater  service  to  the  increasing  number  who  desire  to 
acquaint  themselves  with  the  history  and  progress  of  modern 
Missions. 

I  have  only  to  add  that,  while  in  general  agreement  with 
Dr.  Warneck's  views,  I  by  no  means  concur  in  all  his  estimates 
or  criticisms  of  missionary  societies  and  their  operations.  I 
venture  to  think  that,  had  Dr.  Warneck  had  the  same  intimate 
personal  acquaintance  with  the  spiritual  life  and  order  of  the 
Churches  of  Britain  and  America,  and  with  their  missionary 
operations,  as  he  has  with  those  of  Germany,  he  would  in 
several  instances  have  appreciated  them  somewhat  differently. 
Not  the  less  do  I  regard  his  History  as  the  foremost  in  value 
for  English-speaking  students  of  Missions. 

G.  R, 

EDINBUKGHj  February  1906. 


LIST   OF    MAPS 


1.  Bkitish  North  America   ....  To  face  page  160 

2.  Central  Amekica  and  "West  Indies,  with  Patagonia         ,,  176 

3.  West  Coast  of  Africa      .....,,  192 

4.  South  Africa  and  Madagascar  .            .            .            .         ,,  208 

5.  East  Africa            .            .            .           .            .                     ,,  22 1 

6.  Turkish  Empire     .            .            .            .            .  240 

7.  India             .......,,  256 

8.  Language  Map  of  India  .            .            .            .            .         ,,  272 

9.  Burma  and  Siam  (Sumatra)         .            .            .            .          ,,  278 

10.  Malaysia,  Sumatra  to  Philippines        .                                 „  282 

11.  China,  Corea,  and  Japan            ....,,  304 

12.  Oceania       .            .            .            .            ,            .  320 


PART   I 
MISSIONARY  LIFE  AT  HOME 


PART  I 
MISSIONARY    LIFE    AT    HOME 

INTRODUCTION 

1.  Christian  missions  are  as  old  as  Christianity  itself.  The 
missionary  idea,  indeed,  is  much  older.  In  affirming  an  eternal 
origin  for  the  Divine  decree  of  salvation,  Paul  affirms  it  equally 
for  the  universality  of  salvation  (Eph.  iii.  1-12).  God,  who  called 
the  universe  into  being,  designed  His  whole  creation  from  all 
eternity  for  a  universal  salvation.  Therefore  did  He  not  only 
create  a  human  race  after  His  own  likeness,  which  is  of  one 
blood  dwelling  over  the  whole  earth,  but  this  human  race,  formed 
after  His  likeness,  and  one,  He  made  to  be  in  its  totality  the 
object  of  His  saving  love  which  is  determined  in  Christ.1  That 
is  a  root-thought  of  the  Divine  plan  of  salvation  from  the 
beginning ;  but  in  the  time  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation  it 
still  remains  a  more  or  less  hidden  mystery,  and  becomes  first 
fully  disclosed  and  translated  into  deed  when  the  salvation  of 
the  sinful  world  in  Christ  Jesus  has  emerged  from  the  stage  of 
promise  into  that  of  fulfilment.  True,  even  in  the  period  of 
"  particularism,"  during  which  the  people  of  Israel  stands  forth 
as  the  only  bearer  of  revelation,  the  participation  of  the  nations 
that  are  not  of  Israel  in  the  promised  Messianic  salvation  is  set 
prophetically  in  view.  But  this  prophecy  lies  more  on  the 
borders  than  at  the  centre  of  the  Old  Testament  circle  of 
thought.  In  the  continual  extension  of  the  Jewish  propaganda 
during  the  post-Exilic  period,  however,  it  acquires  the  practical 
significance  of  a  preparation  for  primitive  Christian  missions. 

2.  The  prophetic  thought  of  the  universality  of  salvation 
first  passes  into  missions  proper,  i.e.  first  becomes  the  actual 
offer   of  salvation  to   all   nations,   by   the   sending   forth   of 

1  "Warneck,  Evang.  Missionslehre,  Gotha,  1897,  2nd  ed.,  I.  chap,  vii.:  "Der 
Ursprung  der  christlichen  Mission."  [Many  subsequent  references  to  this 
valuable  work  are  omitted  for  the  sake  of  space.— Ed.] 

3 


4  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

messengers  according  to  the  missionary  behest  of  Jesus  (Matt, 
xxviii.  18-20 ;  Mark  xvi.  15  ;  Luke  xxiv.  46-48  ;  John  xx.  21 ; 
Acts  i.  8,  ix.  15,  xxii.  21,  xxvi.  16-18).  This  commandment, 
however,  is  not  itself  the  deepest  and  final  basis  of  missions. 
The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  necessarily  issues  in  a  missionary 
commandment.  It  is  penetrated  through  and  through  by 
thoughts  of  universal  salvation  which  make  it  a  religion  for  the 
whole  world.  These  thoughts  move  through  all  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  and  necessarily  led,  when  His  saving  work  was 
accomplished,  to  the  institution  of  missions,  the  more  so  since 
Israel  as  a  nation  rejected  salvation.  Jesus  Himself,  it  is  true, 
does  not  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  heathen,  but  from  the 
outset  He  looks  upon  His  doctrine  so  entirely  as  a  missionary 
religion,  that  immediately  upon  the  selection  of  the  disciples, 
whom  He  chose  to  carry  forward  His  work,  He  gave  to  them 
the  name  of  "  apostles,"  missionaries. 

3.  How  inevitably  the  missionary  obligation  is  the  outcome 
of  the  whole  redemptory  teaching  of  the  New  Testament,  per- 
meated as  it  is  with  universal  ideas  of  salvation,  so  that  we 
should  have  perforce  to  engage  in  missions,  even  if  there  had 
been  no  direct  command  to  that  effect, — this  is  convincingly 
proved  by  the  fundamental  evangelical  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith,  whose  triumphant  champion  is  by  no  mere  accident 
the  same  apostle  who  was  pre-eminently  "  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles." 

The  fundamental  evangelical  doctrine  that  righteousness 
comes  by  faith  rests  on  the  double  assumption  that  all  mankind 
stands  under  the  dominion  of  sin,  and  is  therefore  guilty  before 
God,  and  that  God,  of  His  sovereign  grace,  without  any  human 
intervention,  has  prepared  a  salvation  for  the  world  which  out- 
reaches  the  evil  in  the  world.  As  all  men  without  distinction 
must  have  been  lost  if  left  to  themselves,  so  should  all  without 
distinction  be  saved  after  Jesus  has  given  Himself  as  a  ransom 
for  all.  In  this  Gospel  there  lies  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  for  everyone,  be  he  Jew  or  Greek,  wise  or  foolish, 
male  or  female,  bond  or  free.  And  that  on  the  sole  condition 
of  faith.  This  condition  makes  salvation  dependent,  not  on 
any  specific  human  accomplishment,  but  entirely  on  the  re- 
demptive grace  made  manifest  in  Christ,  which  is  freely 
bestowed,  and  demands  nothing  of  fallen  man,  who  is  powerless 
to  do  anything  for  his  own  salvation,  but  trustful  acceptance 
and  surrender.  This  most  comforting  condition  of  salvation, 
which,  as  far  as  the  subject  is  concerned,  makes  the  possession 
as  also  the  effectual  operation  of  the  objective  gift  of  salvation 
dependent  on  faith  alone,  renders  its  acceptance  possible  by  all 
men  without  distinction  of  nationality,  training,  social  position, 


INTRODUCTION  5 

sex,  age,  for  it  can  be  fulfilled  by  all.  Christianity  alone,  in 
proclaiming  faith  as  the  condition  of  salvation,  opens  up  a  way 
of  salvation  within  the  reach  of  everyone  in  all  places  and  in 
all  ages. 

We  have  therefore  in  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
a  universal  need  of  salvation,  a  universal  grace  of  salvation, 
and  a  universal  condition  of  salvation.  From  this  there  follows 
also,  of  logical  as  well  as  of  dogmatic  and  ethical  necessity,  a 
universal  offer  of  salvation,  i.e.  the  institution  of  missions 
throughout  the  whole  world.     (Rom.  x.  4-1 7.) 

4.  The  history  of  Christianity  corresponds  to  its  character 
as  a  missionary  religion :  it  begins  with  missions,  and  with 
missions  it  closes.  As  the  sphere  of  missions  embraces  the 
whole  earth,  so  also  the  age  of  missions  covers  the  whole  of 
this  present  era.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  which  forms  the 
entrance  into  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  is  a  history 
of  missions,  and  when  missions  have  done  their  work,  i.e.  when 
the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  shall  have  been  preached  to  all 
peoples  for  a  witness,  then  will  the  history  of  the  Church  have 
reached  its  conclusion,  for  then  will  the  end  come.  And  what 
lies  between  is  traversed  by  missionary  history ;  the  whole 
Christendom  of  to-day,  which  embraces  fully  one-third  of 
humanity  (535  millions),  is  the  fruit  of  earlier  missionary  work. 

There  is  a  great  missionary  history  of  the  past.  Two 
closed  periods  of  missions  lie  behind  us  :  the  Apostolic,  with 
the  post- Apostolic  and  the  Mediaeval  periods.  The  sphere  of 
both  was  providentially  opened  up  and  also  circumscribed. 
To  the  Apostolic  period,  by  means  of  the  Jewish  Diaspora,  the 
spread  of  the  Greek  language,  and  the  world-intercourse  of 
that  time,  there  was  allotted  as  its  sphere  of  labour  the  ancient 
GraBCo-Eoman  world,  especially  in  so  far  as  it  surrounded  the 
Mediterranean  ;  while  to  mediaeval  missions  there  was  allotted, 
by  the  Migrations  of  Peoples,  and  the  whole  political  configura- 
tion of  the  time,  the  Germanic- Slavonic  world.  Both  periods 
closed  with  the  complete  Christianisation  of  the  spheres 
allotted  to  them. 

5.  It  is  true  that  the  missionary  methods  of  these  two 
periods  were  rather  different.  Apostolic  missions  attached 
themselves  rigidly  to  the  missionary  instrumentality  of  the 
Word.  The  Word  of  Jesus  and  about  Jesus,  as  witnessed  in 
the  preaching  and  writings,  the  actions  and  sufferings,  the  life 
and  death  of  His  apostles  and  confessors,  was  for  them  a  power 
adequate  for  Christianisation.  That  was  the  heroic  age  of 
early  Christianity,  and  this  heroic  age  is  the  age  of  classical 
missionary  enterprise,  a  model  for  missions  in  all  ages.  Pro- 
fessional and  occasional  missionary  work  went  hand  in  hand ; 


6  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

upon  the  conversion  of  individuals  there  followed  the  founda- 
tion of  small  congregations,  and,  principally  by  assimilation, 
ever  growing  numbers  became  associated  by  degrees  with  this 
nucleus,  originally  quite  small  and  belonging  in  a  very  pre- 
ponderating measure  to  the  middle  and  lower  ranks  of  the 
population.  It  was  not  from  above  to  beneath,  but  from 
beneath  to  above,  that  the  Christianising  process  was  effected.1 

This  method  of  missionary  work  fell  into  disuse  when, 
under  Constantine  and  his  successors,  Christianity  entered 
into  an  alliance,  first,  with  the  Roman  State,  and  then  with 
the  Frankonian,  Germanic,  and  Slavonic  governments.  A 
beginning  was  now  made  in  missionising  by  force  :  idols  were 
overthrown,  temples  destroyed,  sacred  trees  felled,  and  all 
manner  of  oppression  exercised  upon  non-Christians.  Of 
course  the  Word  was  also  used  as  a  missionary  instrument,  but 
on  the  whole  less  stress  was  laid  upon  striving  after  personal 
Christianity  as  a  first  step  to  witness-bearing  and  the  con- 
vincing of  others,  than  upon  building  up  the  dominion  of  the 
Church  and  bringing  the  masses  into  the  Church.  Only  later, 
and  by  ecclesiastical  education,  was  that  Christian  conviction 
to  be  formed  which  should  have  been  preliminary  to  reception 
into  the  Church.  Instead  of  pressing  on  to  the  whole  body  of 
the  people  through  the  individual,  the  idea  was  to  first  win 
the  whole  body  of  the  people  in  order  then  to  influence  the 
individual  within  it — a  missionary  method  which  it  is  true 
had  its  reason  in  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  objects  of 
mediaeval  missions,  especially  that  of  the  Teutons,  because  that 
among  them  dependence  upon  the  whole  body  of  the  people 
or  tribe  was  so  extreme.  It  is  now  the  Church  which  carries 
on  missions,  even  if  it  is  monks  and  princes  who  set  the  Church 
in  operation;  and  ecclesiastical  organisations — the  founding 
of  bishoprics,  priestly  orders,  and  cloister  schools — precede  and 
follow  them  up.  And  since  the  Church  has  herself  become 
a  kingdom  of  this  world,  she  takes  no  offence  at  allying  herself 
with  the  politics  of  conquest,  whether  placing  them  at  the 
service  of  missions  or  missions  at  theirs.2 

6.  With  the  increasing  obscuration  of  Bible  doctrine  and  the 
increasing  declension  in  Christian  life,  missionary  activity, 
which  had  been  growing  more  and  more  external,  came  gradu- 
ally to  a  standstill  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Europe  was,  at 
least  outwardly,  almost  wholly  Christianised.  On  the  other 
hand,  almost  all  the  provinces  of  Western  Asia  and  of  North 

1  Cf.  Harnack,  Die  Mission  und  Ausbrcitung  dcs  Christcntums  in  den 
crsten  drei  Jahrlmndcrtcn,  Leipzig,  1902. 

2  Thomas  Smith,  Mediccval  Missions,  Edinburgh,  1880.  Barnes,  Tvo 
Thousand  Years  of  Missions  before  Carey,  Chicago,  1900. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

Africa,  where  Christianity  had  in  the  first  period  of  missions 
achieved  such  magnificent  conquests,  had  been  lost  to  it  through 
the  counter-mission  of  Mohammedanism.  Only  sporadic 
Christian  churches  still  remained ;  in  Asia  Minor  (Syrians, 
Armenians,  Nestorians),  in  India  (Thomasites),  in  Egypt 
(Kopts),  and  in  Abyssinia.  These  are,  to  this  day,  so  far 
from  being  missionary  centres,  that  they  need  themselves  to 
be  the  spheres  of  missionary  work. 

7.  Then,  even  before  the  Eeformation,  a  great  new  mission 
field  was  opened.  There  began  an  age  of  discovery,  which  had 
for  its  result  the  disclosure  of  a  hitherto  altogether  unknown 
non-Christian  world.  The  most  epoch-making  event  of  this 
age  was  the  discovery  of  America  in  1492.  To  the  end  of  his 
life,  however,  Columbus  had  no  idea  that  he  had  discovered  a 
new  continent,  but  remained  in  the  conviction  that  he  had 
landed  in  Asia.  The  great  geographical  problem  which  was 
then  in  question  was  the  finding  of  the  sea-way  to  India.  In 
order  to  solve  this  problem,  discoverers  struck  out  in  two 
directions :  they  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Africa  in  order,  by 
circumnavigating  it,  to  reach  India  by  the  way  of  the  East, 
which  at  last  the  Portuguese  Vasco  da  Grama  accomplished  in 
1498,  after  Diego  Cam  had  discovered  Congo-land  in  1484,  and 
Bartholomeo  Diaz  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1486.  On  the 
other  hand,  incited  by  hypotheses  which  certain  ingenious 
geographers  had  set  up,  and  supported  by  Spain,  Columbus 
sought  to  find  India  by  a  way  to  the  West,  and  on  that  way 
he  came  to  America.  Thus  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  two 
nations  then  most  powerful  on  the  sea,  set  foot  on  three 
continents,  Africa,  Asia,  and  America,  and  acquired  vast 
possessions.  From  the  first  the  discoverers,  who  at  the  same 
time  were  conquerors,  were  accompanied  by  monks,  mainly 
of  the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  orders,  for  the  purpose  of 
planting  the  banner  of  the  Cross  in  the  lands  which  should  be 
discovered  and  conquered.  Discovery,  conquest,  and  missions 
went  hand  in  hand,  and  that  in  both  the  directions  which 
discovery  and  conquest  took.  In  the  Bull  Inter  caetera  divinae 
of  4th  May  1493,  addressed  to  King  Ferdinand  of  Aragon  and 
Isabella  of  Castile,  Pope  Alexander  vi.  drew  the  famous  line 
of  demarcation,  by  which  he  divided  the  newly  discovered  and 
still  to  be  discovered  world  between  Spain  and  Portugal,  on 
condition  that  the  inhabitants  were  made  Christians,  which 
both  these  Powers  were  very  diligent  to  do  after  their  fashion. 
In  three  continents  Christianity  was  propagated  very  exten- 
sively, and  with  great  appearance  of  success. 


CHAPTER   I 
THE  AGE  OF  THE  EEFOEMATION 

8.  Although  the  Eeformation  fell  in  one  of  the  most 
magnificent  ages  of  discovery,  and  the  Catholic  Church  beheld 
in  the  opening  of  the  new  world  a  missionary  signal,  missionary 
action  was  lacking  in  the  youth  of  Protestantism.  This  can  be 
explained,  and  must  be  excused,  on  two  grounds — (1)  Because 
immediate  intercourse  with  heathen  nations  was  lacking  to  the 
Protestant  church  (especially  in  Germany),  and  (2)  because 
the  battle  against  heathenism  within  the  old  Christendom,  the 
struggle  for  its  own  existence  against  papal  and  worldly  power, 
and  the  necessity  of  self-consolidation,  summoned  it  primarily 
to  a  work  at  home  which  claimed  all  the  energy  of  young 
Protestantism.  By  the  Eeformation  the  Christianising  of  a 
large  part  of  Europe  was  first  completed,  and  so  far  it  may  be 
said  to  have  carried  on  a  mission  work  at  home  on  an  extensive 
scale.  It  was  exclusively  Catholic  states — Portugal  and  S{)ain 
— which  then  held  sway  on  the  sea,  and  which  were  making 
new  discoveries  and  annexing  the  great  territories  beyond.  No 
way  was  then  open  for  Protestant  states  into  the  newly  dis- 
covered world ;  and  had  Evangelicals  sought  to  enter  it  as 
missionaries,  they  would  as  certainly  not  have  been  permitted, 
even  as  in  Spain  and  Portugal  the  entrance  of  the  Gospel  was 
withstood  by  force. 

9.  Only,  if  the  want  of  a  direct  connection  with  the  newly 
discovered  world  and  the  closing  of  that  world  against  a 
possible  entrance  of  Protestantism  sufficiently  explain  the 
lack  of  missionary  activity  in  the  churches  of  the  Eeformation, 
yet  the  other  fact  remains  unexplained,  namely,  that  no  lament 
was  raised  over  the  practical  impossibility  of  discharging  the 
missionary  obligation,  which  was  brought  so  near  by  the 
opening  of  the  world.  In  the  time  of  the  Eeformation,  we  do 
indeed  meet  with  one  complaint  as  to  the  want  of  missionary 
zeal,  a  complaint  which  is  at  once  an  eloquent  argument  for 
the  duty  of  missions  and  a  powerful  missionary  appeal  to  con- 
temporaries.   But  that  complaint  was  raised  by  Erasmus,  wl  i<  mi 


THE   AGE   OF   THE   REFORMATION  9 

we  cannot  claim  as  an  Evangelical  witness.1  If,  however,  the 
Beformers  and  their  immediate  disciples  have  no  word  either 
of  sorrow  or  excuse  that  circumstances  hindered  their  dis- 
charge of  missionary  duty,  while  they  could  not  but  see  that 
the  Church  of  Eome  was  implementing  this  duty  on  a  broad 
scale,  this  strange  silence  can  be  accounted  for  satisfactorily 
only  by  the  fact  that  the  recognition  of  the  missionary  obli- 
gation was  itself  absent.  We  miss  in  the  Beformers  not  only 
missionary  action,  but  even  the  idea  of  missions,  in  the  sense 
in  which  we  understand  them  to-day.  And  this  not  only 
because  the  newly  discovered  heathen  world  across  the  sea  lay 
almost  wholly  beyond  the  range  of  their  vision,  though  that 
reason  had  some  weight,  but  because  fundamental  theological 
views  hindered  them  from  giving  their  activity,  and  even  their 
thoughts,  a  missionary  direction.  This  fact  surprises  us  in  the 
case  of  so  great  witnesses  for  God ;  it  pains  us.  And  for  that 
reason  it  can  readily  be  understood  how,  by  isolated  quotations, 
principally  from  the  writings  of  Luther,  it  has  been  sought 
over  and  over  again  to  disprove  it.2  But  on  closer  examination 
these  quotations  do  not  bear  out  what  they  are  meant  to  prove ; 
and  less  and  less  has  the  fact  come  to  be  called  in  question 
that  the  insight  into  the  permanent  missionary  task  of  the 
church  was  really  darkened  in  the  case  of  the  Beformers, — it 
is  only  upon  the  reasons  which  explain  it  that  some  slight 
difference  of  opinion  still  prevails.  Had  that  not  been  the 
case,  all  the  amplitude  of  the  reformation  work  within  the 
old  Christendom,  which  was  most  incumbent  on  them,  would 
not  have  kept  them  back  from  at  least  seeking  to  fulfil  the 
missionary  obligation.     From  the  days  of  the  Apostles  until 

1  In  his  Ecclesiastes  sive  de  ratione  concionandi.  The  substance  of  it  is  given 
by  Kalkar,  Geschichte  der  christlichen  Mission  unter  den  Heiden,  Gliterslob, 
1879,  i.  53.  [The  reason  assigned  by  Dr.  Warneck  for  practically  disregarding 
Erasmus  in  his  estimate  of  the  relation  of  the  Reformation  to  missions,  can 
hardly  be  regarded  as  satisfactory.  Although  Erasmus  stands  aloof  from  the 
Evangelical  group  at  the  centre  of  the  Reformation,  yet  there  were  elements  and 
aspects  of  the  general  movement  which  Erasmus  most  clearly  perceived  and 
most  eminently  represented.  The  more  accurate  Dr.  Warneck's  estimate  of  the 
position  of  the  Reformers  in  relation  to  missions,  the  more  is  it  to  the  credit  of 
Erasmus  that  he  did  not  share  their  theological  prepossessions  in  this  respect, 
and  was  able  to  furnish  in  this  particular  a  truer  interpretation  of  the  meaning 
and  spirit  of  the  Reformation.  But  what  ought  to  be  noticed  is  that  neither 
Erasmus  nor  Saravia,  to  whom  Dr.  Warneck  afterwards  refers,  saw  the 
missionary  duty  of  the  church  in  such  a  light  as  to  make  it  matter  of  a  special 
treatise  or  of  a  distinct  call  to  action.  Their  views  on  missions  were  expressed 
incidentally, — by  the  one  in  a  treatise  dealing  with  homiletics,  by  the  other  in 
a  treatise  dealing  with  Church  polity.  And  no  one  else  in  the  age  of  the 
Reformation  did  what  they  thus  failed  to  do.  For  a  long  extract  from  the 
treatise  of  Erasmus,  see  Dr.  George  Smith's  Short  History  of  Christian  Missions 
5th  el.,  pp.  116-118.— Ed.] 

2  So  Ostertag,  in  his  Ucbersichtliche  Geschichte  der  protcslautisclicu  Missionen  ; 
Plitt,  Kurze  Geschichte  der  lutherischen  Mission,  Erlangen,  1871  ;  Kalkar,  v.  ref. 


10  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

to-day,  the  work  to  be  done  within  the  church  has  never  been 
able  to  confine  the  Gospel  at  home,  as  soon  as  its  extension 
among  the  heathen  has  been  recognised  to  be  equally  the  duty 
of  the  church. 

10.  Evidence  for  the  assertion  that "  Luther  did  not  neglect 
the  missionary  commandment  of  the  Lord  to  His  church,  but 
sought  by  word  and  deed  to  do  justice  to  it,"  a  man  like  Plitt, 
well  versed  in  the  life  and  teaching  of  the  Eeformer,  can  furnish 
only  by  altering  the  idea  of  "  missions "  into  that  of  "  the 
Eeformation  mission."  Even  Plitt  allows  that  Luther  did  not 
think  of  proper  missions  to  the  heathen,  i.e.  of  a  regular 
sending  of  messengers  of  the  Gospel  to  non-Christian  nations, 
with  the  view  of  Christianising  them.  For  by  "  missions  "  we 
understand,  and  we  must  not  understand  anything  else  than, 
this  sending,  continuing  through  every  age  of  the  church,  which 
carries  out  the  commandment,  "  Go  and  make  disciples  of  all 
nations,"  i.e.  of  all  nations  which  are  still  non-Christian.  That, 
however,  is  something  essentially  different  from  what  Plitt  says 
of  Luther.  "  By  the  heathen *  he  understands  the  non-Jewish 
nations  which  had  entered  the  Christian  church ;  .  .  .  amongst 
them  the  Gospel  must  ever  have  freer  course.  Amongst  them, 
accordingly,  the  disciples  of  Luther  went  out  as  messengers 
and  founded  mission  stations.  Now,  too,  they  sought  out  first 
the  chief  centres  of  commerce,  the  larger  towns,  and  thence 
their  preaching  broadened  into  ever  wider  circles, .  .  .  until  there 
was  a  compact  evangelical  church-domain.  On  such  wise  did 
Luther  carry  on  Evangelical  missions."  Certainly;  only,  not  in 
the  specific  sense  of  that  term.  And  when  Plitt  adds :  "  From 
the  state  in  which  he  found  the  church,  Luther  allowed  him- 
self to  be  guided  as  to  how  and  where  he  should  carry  out 
the  missionary  commandment :  he  saw  that  the  church  was 
ignorant  of  what  the  substance  of  missionary  preaching  should 
be,  and  had  either  forgotten  or  was  unwilling  to  know  in  what 
manner  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  extended.  Therefore  here 
also  a  work  of  reformation  was  set  to  him.  He  bore  testimony 
against  the  secularising  of  missionary  activity," — that  fits  the 
Eeformer  well,  but  it  does  not  prove  that  the  Eeformer  was 
also  a  man  of  missionary  spirit  in  the  sense  of  seeking  the 
Christianising  of  the  heathen.  Luther's  mission  sphere  was, 
if  we  may  so  say,  the  paganised  Christian  church.  All  the 
quotations  of  Plitt  attest  that,  and  nothing  further.  They  do 
not  prove  that  the  Eeformer  looked  upon  the  non-Christian 

1  [It  should  be  explained  to  the  English  reader  that  in  German  the  word 
(die  lleidon)  which  denotes  the  heathen  is  the  common  expression  for  the 
Gentiles.  It  may  thus  signify  either  the  non-Jewish  or  the  non-Christian 
peoples. — Ed.] 


THE  AGE  OF   THE   REFORMATION  II 

world  as  a  sphere  of  labour  for  himself  and  his  followers,  in 
accordance  with  the  distinctive  missionary  commandment. 
Plitt  evades  the  question  at  issue  by  substituting  an  unusual 
conception  of  missions. 

The  Eeformation  certainly  did  a  great  indirect  service  to 
the  cause  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  as  it  not  only  restored 
the  true  substance  of  missionary  preaching  by  its  earnest 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel,  but  also  brought  back  the  whole 
work  of  missions  on  to  apostolic  lines.  But  the  church  did 
not  become  conscious  of  this  gain,  nor  did  missions  profit  by 
it  till  a  much  later  period,  when,  long  after  the  age  of  the 
Eeformation,  an  age  of  missions  opened  within  Protestantism. 
Luther  rightly  combats,  as  Plitt  insists,  "the  secularising  of 
missionary  work,"  according  to  which  it  was  believed  that  the 
enemies  of  the  Christian  name  must  be  smitten  down  by  the 
sword,  and  showed  of  what  sort  was  the  message  which  was 
to  be  brought  by  the  church  to  all  nations.  He  does  not, 
however,  do  that  in  view  of  the  perverted  missions  to  the 
heathen  of  that  time, — of  these  he  makes  no  mention, — but  in 
connection  with  his  attitude  to  the  Turkish  wars.  "It  does 
not  belong  to  the  Pope,  in  so  far  as  he  would  be  a  Christian, 
yea,  the  chiefest  and  best  preacher  of  Christ,  to  lead  a  church 
army  or  a  Christian  army,  for  the  church  must  not  fight  with 
the  sword.  It  has  other  weapons,  another  sword  and  other 
wars,  with  which  it  has  enough  to  do."  At  the  same  time, 
Luther  never  points  to  the  Turks,  nor  even  to  the  heathen,  as 
the  objects  of  regular  missionary  work.  "  There  are,"  he  says, 
"  amongst  ourselves,  Turks,  Jews,  heathens,  non-Christians  all 
too  many,  both  with  openly  false  doctrine  and  terribly  scan- 
dalous life."  He  does  not  mean  that  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
same  thing  is  said  to-day,  to  excuse  the  neglect  of  foreign  mission 
work ;  he  never  enters  on  a  polemic  against  foreign  missions,  he 
simply  does  not  speak  of  them ;  but  by  such  expressions  he 
characterises  the  unchristian  condition  of  the  Christendom  of  his 
time,  in  order  to  set  before  himself  and  his  fellow- workers  the 
overwhelming  task  which  this  sad  condition  of  affairs  imposed 
upon  them.  If  Luther  speaks  of  the  heathen,  he  constantly 
uses  the  word  in  the  sense  of  the  non-Jewish  nations  which 
constitute  Christendom.  As,  e.g., "  When  it  is  said  in  the  117th 
Psalm, '  Praise  the  Lord,  all  ye  heathen,'  we  are  assured  that  we 
are  heathen,1  and  that  we  also  shall  certainly  be  heard  by 
God  in  heaven,  and  shall  not  be  condemned,  although  we  are 
not  of  Abraham's  flesh  and  blood."  Certainly  he  says  further — 
"  If  all  the  heathen  shall  praise  God,  it  must  first  be  that  He 
shall  be  their  God.  Shall  He  be  their  God  ?  Then  they  must 
1  See  note,  p.  10. 


12  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

know  Him  and  believe  in  Him,  and  put  away  all  idolatry, 
since  God  cannot  be  praised  with  idolatrous  lips  or  with  un- 
believing hearts.  Shall  they  believe?  Then  they  must  first 
hear  His  Word  and  by  it  receive  the  Holy  Ghost,  Who  cleanses 
and  enlightens  their  heart  through  faith.  Are  they  to  hear 
His  Word  ?  Then  preachers  must  be  sent  who  shall  declare  to 
them  the  Word  of  God."  It  were  a  mistake,  however,  to  con- 
strue this  into  a  missionary  programme,  as  if  Luther  were 
summoning  to  the  sending  of  missionaries  to  non-Christians. 
He  always  thinks  of  ra  Uvr\  in  the  sense  of  the  Christian  nations 
who  have  sprung  from  the  heathen.  Only  in  this  sense  is  the 
word  to  be  understood  even  in  the  familiar  hymn,  "  Es  wolle 
Gott  uns  gnadig  sein,"  where  it  is  said — 

•  .  .  .  "  Und  Jesus  Christus,  Heil  und  Stark, 
Bekannt  den  Heiden  werden 
Und  sie  zn  Gott  bekehren. 
So  danken,  Gott  und  loben  dich 
Die  Heiden  iiberalle." 

.  . .  .  "  And  Jesus  Christ,  His  saving  strength 
To  Gentiles  to  make  known, 
And  turn  them  unto  God. 
That  Thee,  O  God,  may  thank  and  praise 
The  Gentiles  everywhere." 

Of  course,  Luther  maintained  with  emphasis  the  univer- 
sality of  Christianity  and  its  elevation  above  all  kinds  of  limit, 
whether  of  place,  time,  rank,  or  nation.  He  was  quite  certain 
also  that,  according  to  the  promise,  the  Gospel  must  speed 
through  the  whole  world  and  reach  all  nations.  In  this  con- 
fidence he  finds  a  wealth  of  comfort  and  much  reason  to  praise 
the  free  compassion  of  God.  "  All  the  world  does  not  mean 
one  or  two  parts ;  but  everywhere  where  people  are,  thither 
the  Gospel  must  speed  and  still  ever  speeds,  so  that,  even  if  it 
does  not  remain  always  in  a  place,  it  yet  must  come  to,  and 
sound  forth  in,  all  parts  and  corners  of  the  earth."  But  often 
as  such  sayings  are  repeated,  they  are  never  set  in  connection 
with  a  summons  to  send  messengers  of  the  Gospel  where  its 
message  has  not  yet  come.  And  this  is  because  Luther's  view 
was  that  Christianity  had  already  fulfilled  its  universal  calling 
to  be  the  religion  of  the  world.  "The  spiritual  Jerusalem, 
which  is  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  must  be  extended  by  the 
Gospel  throughout  the  whole  world.  That  has  already  come 
to  pass.  The  Gospel  has  been  preached,  and  upon  it  the 
kingdom  of  God  has  been  firmly  established  in  all  [daces 
under  heaven,  so  that  it  now  reaches  and  abides  to  the  end  of 
the  world,  and  in  it  we,  by  the  mercy  and  compassion  of  God, 


THE  AGE   OF   THE   REFORMATION  1 3 

are  citizens."  "  Everywhere  the  Word  is  preached  and  the 
sacraments  are  administered.  It  needs  no  longer  that  men  go 
to  Jerusalem,  .  .  .  another  temple  or  church  has  been  built 
whose  walls  encompass  the  whole  world,  .  .  .  for  He  now  lets 
His  Word  go  to  all  creatures  as  He  Himself  gave  commandment 
to  the  Apostles,  '  Go  ye,  etc.'  Though  all  people  do  not  now 
believe,  yet  Christ  rules  everywhere  where  people  are,  main- 
tains there  His  Word  and  Sacrament  against  all  devils  and 
men,  for  the  Gospel  and  Baptism  must  go  through  the  world 
as  they  have  gone  and  are  going  day  by  day."  In  the  parable 
of  the  Good  Shepherd,  too,  Luther  regards  the  "  other  sheep  " 
as  already  brought  in.  "  Many  say  that  that  has  not  yet  been 
brought  to  pass.  I  say,  nay,  the  saying  has  long  ago  been  ful- 
filled." He  does  not  say  precisely,  as  later  Lutheran  theo- 
logians seek  to  demonstrate  even  from  history,  that  the  Apostles 
actually  preached  the  Gospel  in  the  whole  world,  but  for  his 
own  time  he  reckons  the  missionary  proclamation  proper  as 
accomplished.  He  often  has  occasion  to  speak  of  the  mission- 
ary commandment,  but  his  beautiful  expositions  of  it — so  even 
in  his  Epiphany  sermons — constantly  look  back  to  the  past ; 
they  never  draw  conclusions  as  to  its  abiding  validity  for  the 
present  and  the  future.  Luther  regarded  the  extension  of 
Christianity  in  the  world  as  achieved  by  the  missionary  history 
of  the  past. 

This  startling  view  becomes  in  some  degree  intelligible 
when  we  further  learn  that  the  Eeformer  does  not  understand 
the  progress  of  the  Gospel  through  the  whole  world  in  the 
sense  that  Christianity  would  become  everywhere  the  ruling 
religion,  or  that  all  men  would  be  won  to  believe  the  Gospel. 
Thus  he  preaches  on  the  text,  "  There  shall  be  one  fold  and  one 
Shepherd,"  to  this  effect :  "  Some  interpret  this  passage  to  mean 
that  it  must  be  fulfilled  soon  before  the  last  day,  when  Christ 
and  Elias  and  Enoch  shall  come.  That  is  not  true,  and  it 
really  is  the  Devil  himself  who  has  led  to  the  belief  that  the 
whole  world  will  become  Christian."  And  again  :  "  What  the 
Lord  says  of  other  sheep  which  He  must  also  bring,  so  that 
there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shepherd,  began  to  be  immedi- 
ately after  Pentecost,  when  the  Gospel  was  preached  by  the 
Apostles  through  all  the  world,  and  will  continue  so  to  be  until 
the  end  of  the  world.  Not  so  that  all  men  shall  turn  and 
accept  the  Gospel.  That  will  never  be.  The  Devil  will  never 
let  that  come  to  pass.  Therefore  there  will  ever  be  in  the 
world  many  different  faiths  and  religions."  In  an  exposition 
of  Micah  (iv.  5)  we  have  it :  "  Multae  gentes  venient  ad  montem 
Sion,  seel  tamen  non  omnes,  multae  manebunt  in  impietate  et 
idolatria  sua."     [Many  nations  shall  come  to  Mount  Zion,  but 


14  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

yet  not  all ;  many  shall  remain  in  their  impiety  and  idolatry.] 
Luther  understands  the  missionary  mandate  only  in  the  sense 
that  by  world-wide  preaching  the  Gospel  will  be  offered  to  all 
nations  In  this  sense,  however,  it  is  regarded  by  him  as 
accomplished. 

It  must  be  granted,  on  the  other  hand,  that  some  of  Luther's 
sayings  seem  to  stand  opposed  to  this  conception,  and  to  suggest 
the  idea  that  he  was  cognisant  of  a  missionary  task  belonging 
to  the  church  even  in  the  present.  Thus  he  speaks  in  one  of 
his  Ascension  sermons :  "  Here  there  rises  a  question  on  this 
passage :  '  Go  ye  into  all  the  world,'  as  to  how  it  is  to  be  under- 
stood and  held  fast,  since  verily  the  Apostles  have  not  come 
into  all  the  world,  for  no  Apostle  has  come  to  us,  and  also  many 
islands  have  been  discovered  in  our  day  where  the  people  are 
heathen  and  no  one  has  preached  to  them :  yet  the  scripture 
saith  their  voice  has  sounded  forth  into  all  lands.  Answer ; 
their  preaching  has  gone  out  into  all  the  world,  though  it  has 
not  yet  come  into  all  the  world.  That  outgoing  has  been 
begun  and  gone  on,  though  it  has  not  yet  been  fulfilled  and 
accomplished ;  but  there  will  be  further  and  wider  preaching 
until  the  last  day.  When  the  Gospel  has  been  preached,  heard, 
published  through  the  whole  world,  then  the  commission  shall 
have  been  fulfilled,  and  then  the  last  day  shall  come."  From 
these  and  similar  sayings,  which  are  repeatedly  found,  one 
might  expect  that  Luther  would  have  summoned  the  Christians 
of  his  time  to  carry  forward  the  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel 
to  the  whole  world,  which  was  begun  but  not  finished  by  the 
Apostles.  But  one  is  sorely  disappointed  when  Luther  pro- 
ceeds :  "  It  is  with  this  mission  of  preaching  just  as  when  a 
stone  is  thrown  into  the  water,  it  makes  wavelets  and  circles 
and  streaks  round  itself,  and  the  wavelets  move  always  farther 
and  farther  away,  one  chasing  the  other  till  they  come  to  the 
bank.  So  with  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  It  was  begun  by 
the  Apostles,  and  goes  on  continually,  and  is  sped  ever  farther 
by  preachers  hunted  and  persecuted  hither  and  thither  into 
the  world,  and  so  will  always  be  more  widely  made  known  to 
those  who  have  not  erewhile  heard  it,  even  although  in  the 
midst  of  its  course  it  be  extinguished  and  reckoned  empty 
heresy."  Here  again  there  is  no  reference  to  any  systematic 
missionary  enterprise.  Luther  thinks,  at  the  most,  of  an  occa- 
sional or  incidental  preaching  among  non-Christians,  especially 
by  faithful  laymen  or  preachers  who  have  been  driven  from  their 
home.  The  systematic  work  of  missions  is,  in  his  judgment — 
as  Melanchthon  asserts  on  dogmatic  grounds,  and  the  later 
orthodox  theologians  demonstrate  at  greater  length — a  work 
confined  to  the  Apostles.     After  them  "  no  one  has  any  longer 


THE  AGE  OF   THE   REFORMATION  1 5 

such  a  universal  apostolic  command,  but  each  bishop  or  pastor 
has  his  appointed  diocese  or  parish." 

It  seemed  to  him,  indeed,  natural  that  some  devout 
Christians  taken  prisoners  by  the  Turks  should  render  service 
as  witnesses  by  their  Christian  conduct.  Thus  he  exhorts  such 
as  have  fallen  into  Turkish  captivity  :  "  Where  thou  dost  faith- 
fully and  diligently  serve,  there  thou  mayest  adorn  and  honour 
the  Gospel  and  the  name  of  Christ,  so  that  thy  master,  and 
perhaps  many  others,  evil  as  they  are,  shall  be  constrained  to 
say,  'These  Christians  are  a  faithful,  dutiful,  pious,  humble, 
diligent  people,'  and  thus  thou  mayest  confound  the  faith  of 
the  Turks,  and  mayhap  convert  many  when  they  see  that 
Christians  surpass  the  Turks  in  humility,  patience,  diligence, 
fidelity,  and  suchlike  virtues.  That  is  what  St.  Paul  means 
by  his  word  to  Titus  (ii.  10):  'Let  servants  adorn  or  grace 
the  doctrine  of  our  Lord  in  all  things.' "  That  is  the  spirit  of 
Christian  testimony,  but  not  missionary  work.  According  to 
Luther,  in  place  of  the  sending  out  of  missionaries  comes  per- 
secution or  captivity  or  some  such  cause,  which  scatters 
Christians  among  non-Christians,  and  makes  them  there 
preachers  of  the  Gospel  by  word  and  life.  Nowhere  does  he 
recommend  a  purposeful  sending  out  or  a  voluntary  going  out 
of  preachers  to  non-Christians  with  the  view  of  Christianising 
them.  When  he  says  in  the  "  Deutsche  Messe  "  [German  Mass], 
"  I  hold  not  at  all  with  those  who  attach  such  great  importance 
to  one  language  and  .despise  all  others,  for  I  would  fain  that 
young  men  and  others  might  be  raised  up  who  in  foreign  lands 
might  be  of  service  to  Christ  and  speak  with  the  people,"  the 
point  in  question  is  the  right  of  the  mother  tongue  in  Divine 
worship  which  Luther  claimed  for  every  Christian  nation,  and 
not  preparation  for  missionary  preaching.  And  thus  it  is  with 
all  quotations  which  seem  to  show  that  he  expresses  in  them 
real  missionary  ideas :  when  their  connection  is  examined  we 
are  always  disappointed. 

Luther's  peculiar  attitude  towards  missions  as  a  constant 
duty  of  the  Christian  Church  is  not  yet,  however,  made  fully 
clear  by  these  statements.  Account  has  also  to  be  taken  of  his 
doctrine  of  Election  and  of  his  Eschatology.  To  lay  the  whole 
stress  upon  the  former,  as  Sell  does,  is  certainly  one-sided. 
But  when  Luther  considers  the  Turks  as  the  obdurate  enemies 
in  the  last  time  by  whom  God  visits  the  sins  of  Christendom, 
and  looks  upon  the  heathen  and  the  Jews  as  having  fallen 
under  the  dominion  of  the  Devil — and  that,  too,  not  without 
their  own  fault — this  view  must  from  the  outset  paralyse  every 
thought  of  missionary  work  among  them.  God,  to  be  sure,  has 
everywhere  His  elect,  whom  by  divers  means  He  leads  to  faith  ; 


l6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

but  how  He  brings  this  to  pass,  that  is  matter  of  His  sovereign 
grace, — a  human  missionary  agency  does  not  lie  in  the  plan  of 
His  decree.  Add  to  this  that  Luther  and  his  contemporaries 
were  persuaded  that  the  end  of  the  world  was  at  hand,  that 
the  signs  of  the  nearness  of  the  last  day  were  apparent,  Anti- 
christ in  the  Papacy,  Gog  and  Magog  in  the  Turks,  so  that  no 
time  remained  for  the  further  development  and  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  the  earth  ;  and  it  becomes  quite  intellig- 
ible that  a  regular  missionary  institution  lay  entirely  outwith 
the  circle  of  the  ideas  of  the  Eeformers.  It  was  the  general 
view,  shared  both  by  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  that  the  whole 
course  of  the  world  was  divided  into  three  periods  of  2000 
years,  and  that  the  third  2000  years  beginning  from  Christ 
would  be  shortened,  so  that  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  some  time  in  the  year  1558,  the  last  day  would  come. 
This  eschatological  position  of  the  Eeformers,  resting  on  their 
whole  conception  of  history,  when  taken  in  connection  with 
the  fact  that  the  heathen  world  of  their  time  lay  quite  beyond 
their  sphere  of  vision,  clearly  explains  how  we  find  in  them  no 
proper  missionary  ideas. 

If  it  has  been  objected  to  this,  that  in  other  cases  the  ex- 
pectation of  the  approach  of  the  second  advent  of  Jesus  serves 
much  more  as  an  incentive  to  missionary  zeal,  as  the  example  of 
the  Apostles  shows,  that  objection  leaves  out  of  account  the  fact 
that  by  Luther  and  his  contemporaries  the  preaching  through- 
out all  the  world,  as  a  witness  to  all  nations,  is  deemed  to  have 
been  already  practically  accomplished.  It  is  true  that  the 
Eeformer  does  not  assign  the  nearness  of  the  end  as  a  reason 
for  dissociating  the  duty  of  missions  from  the  church  in  his  day ; 
but  this  is  simply  because,  even  without  that  eschatological  view, 
he  knew  nothing  of  such  a  duty.  True,  he  asserts  once  and 
again :  "  Before  the  last  day  comes,  church  rule  and  the  Chris- 
tian faith  must  spread  over  all  the  world,  as  the  Lord  Christ 
foretold  that  there  should  not  be  a  city  in  which  the  Gospel 
should  not  be  preached,  and  that  the  Gospel  must  go  through 
all  the  world,  so  that  all  should  have  the  witness  in  their 
conscience,  whether  they  believe  it  or  not."  But  then  he 
proceeds :  "  The  Gospel  has  been  in  Egypt,  but  is  now  away ; 
then  it  has  been  in  Greece  and  Italy,  in  Spain,  France,  and 
other  lands.  Now  it  is  in  Germany,  for  how  long  who  knows  ? 
In  the  eleventh  chapter  to  the  Eomans  St.  Paul  says  also  that 
the  Gospel  must  be  preached  through  all  the  world,  so  that  all 
the  heathen  may  hear,  that  the  fulness  of  the  heathen  is  thus 
to  be  brought  to  heaven.  And  Christ  acts  as  a  thresher :  first 
He  threshes  out  the  ears  with  a  flail ;  then  He  casts  the  chaff 
into  a  heap,  and  gives  it  to  the  swine  to  eat.     So  did  John  the 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  17 

Baptist,  so  did  the  Apostles,  so  have  all  Christian  preachers 
done  ;  they  are  all  threshers,  for  the  Gospel  gathers  many  into 
the  barn  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Where  they  have  done 
that,  nothing  but  empty  chaff  remains."  Thus  it  is  a  chastise- 
ment of  God  for  the  neglect  of  the  Gospel  when  formerly 
offered  that  the  unevangelical  or  non-Christian  world  of  the 
present  does  not  have  it  now  once  more  offered, — a  thought 
which  we  shall  meet  in  its  most  explicit  form  in  the  ortho- 
dox dogmatists  of  the  seventeenth  century.  All  missionary 
obligation  falls  with  this,  and  the  thought  of  hastening  the 
second  coming  of  Jesus  by  missionary  zeal  cannot  possibly 
arise. 

According  to  Luther,  it  is  true,  the  rejection  of  the  Gospel 
does  not  bring  its  course  through  the  world  to  a  standstill. 
"  If  men  in  one  place  will  not  hear  or  suffer  Him  (Jesus),  He 
goes  elsewhere.  He  will  not  cease  to  go  through  the  world 
with  His  Gospel  until  the  last  day.  Jerusalem,  Greece,  and 
Borne  were  not  willing  to  hear  Him,  therefore  He  has  come 
to  us,  and  if  we  also  be  not  willing  to  hear  Him,  He  will  find 
others  who  will  hear  Him."  But  this  unhindered  course  of  the 
Gospel  is  not  effected  by  missions,  but  by  the  free  activities  of 
Divine  grace.  And  Luther's  meaning  is  not  so  much  that  Christ 
turns  to  nations  hitherto  non-Christian,  as  that  such  an  offer  of 
the  Gospel  will  always  take  place,  particularly  within  Christen- 
dom, whereby  "  the  number  of  the  elect  will  be  fulfilled." 
"Therefore  Christ  is  called  a  Branch  (zemah),  because  He 
will  be  preached  unceasingly  by  the  Gospel,  and  grows  and 
increases  in  the  world,  for  His  kingdom  stands  in  growth  and 
increase  until  the  last  day,  and  ever  draws  more  and  new 
Christians  out  of  the  world."  With  missionary  institutions 
this  confident  hope  has  nothing  whatever  to  do. 

11.  Luther's  fellow-labourers  all  occupy  a  similar  position. 
More  sharply  than  Luther,  Melanchthon,  the  dogmatic  theo- 
logian, emphasises  the  missionary  commandment  as  valid  only 
for  the  Apostles.  The  'locus  de  vocatione  gentium'  [article 
concerning  the  calling  of  the  Gentiles]  serves  him  only  as 
a  proof  that  the  forgiveness  of  sins  is  both  '  gratuita '  and 
1  universalis ' ;  he  does  not  deduce  from  it  an  obligation  to 
missions  among  the  heathen.  As  already  before  the  time  of 
Christ  there  was  given  to  the  heathen,  particularly  through 
the  dispersion  of  the  Jews,  the  possibility  of  coming  to  the 
true  worship  of  God,  so  Melanchthon  considers  this  possibility 
as  existing  also  after  Christ  until  his  own  day.  The  view, 
which  meets  us  in  the  later  dogmatists,  that  God  revealed 
Himself  to  the  whole  world  in  the  times  of  Adam,  Noah,  and 
the  Apostles,  is  already  found  in  germ  in  Melanchthon,  who 
2 


1 8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

teaches :  "  Semper  sonat  vox  evangelii.  Data  est  primum 
Adae,  renovata  per  Enoch,  deinde  per  Abraham,  Sem  sparsa  in 
multa  regna."  [The  voice  of  the  Gospel  is  always  sounding. 
It  was  first  given  to  Adam,  renewed  by  Enoch,  then  diffused 
by  Abraham,  Shem,  into  many  kingdoms.]  God  Himself  cares 
for  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  through  the  world.  "  Ubique 
sunt  aliqui,  qui  recte  docent,  in  Asia,  Cypro,  Constantinopli. 
Deus  mirabiliter  excitat  vocem  evangelii,  ut  audiatur  a  toto 
genere  humano."  [Everywhere  there  are  some  who  teach  truly, 
in  Asia,  Cyprus,  Constantinople.  God  marvellously  stimulates 
the  voice  of  the  Gospel,  that  it  may  be  heard  by  the  whole 
human  race.]  Special  missionary  institutions  on  the  part  of 
the  church  after  the  times  of  the  Apostles  are  therefore  not 
necessary.  We  find  already,  however,  in  Melanchthon,  allusions 
to  the  duty  of  civil  authorities  with  regard  to  the  extension  of 
the  Gospel. 

Bucer  does  not  indeed  maintain  the  view  that  the  Apostles 
had  already  fully  executed  the  mission  to  the  Gentiles,  but 
yet  he  affirms  that  through  them  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel 
had  penetrated  "  ad  praecipuas  orbis  regiones,  ex  quibus  facile 
erat,  illam  ad  mortales  reliquos  omnes  dimanare  "  [to  the  prin- 
cipal regions  of  the  world,  from  which  it  was  easy  to  distribute 
it  to  all  remaining  mortals].  Only,  many  had  again  become 
faithless,  chiefly  through  Mohammedanism.  He  speaks  of  a 
dissemination  of  the  Gospel  in  his  own  time,  both  among  those 
who  had  thus  fallen  away  and  among  other  non-Christians 
specially  among  those  in  the  newly  discovered  lands  and 
islands  ;  and  he  complains  that  "  men  seek  the  lands  and  goods 
of  Jews  and  Turks,  and  of  other  heathen  peoples,  but  there  is 
little  trace  of  earnestness  as  to  how  one  may  win  their  souls 
to  Christ  our  Lord,  and  that  not  merely  among  ordinary 
princes,  who  are  called  civil  lords,  but  even  amongst  those  who 
are  called  spiritual  (clergymen)."  And  he  prays,  "  So  may 
now  our  only  true  and  good  Shepherd  Christ  grant  that  His 
churches  everywhere  may  be  staffed  and  provided  with  right 
faithful  and  diligent  elders  who  will  neglect  nothing  in  respect 
of  all  men,  even  Jews  and  Turks,  and  all  unbelievers,  to  whom 
they  may  ever  have  any  access,  so  that  all  those  among  them 
who  belong  to  Christ  may  be  wholly  brought  to  Him."  That 
sounds  quite  as  if  it  were  a  direct  summons  to  missions,  but 
it  only  sounds  so.  Of  the  duty  of  instituting  missions,  Bucer, 
too,  knows  nothing.  He  acknowledges  that  the  Lord  gives 
proper  Apostles  even  to-day,  "  qui  regnum  Christi  ex  uno  loco 
f  erunt  in  alium,  tamquam  legati  doniini  supremi "  [who  carry 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  from  one  place  to  another,  like  legates 
of  the  supreme  Lord],  with  this  addition,  it  is  true:  "eorum 


THE   AGE   OF   THE   REFORMATION  T9 

neque  tot  habemus  neque  tales,  qui  tanta  essent  potentia 
spiritus  tantove  successu  in  apostolatu  suo  ornati  ut  primi 
fuerunt  apostoli."  [Of  these  we  have  neither  as  many  as  were 
the  first  Apostles,  nor  men  endowed  with  such  power  of  the 
Spirit,  nor  with  such  success  in  their  apostleship.]  These  views 
distinguish  him  from  the  other  Lutheran  theologians ;  but 
finally  he  too  comes  to  the  conclusion,  and  that  substantially 
on  the  ground  of  his  doctrine  of  election,  that  the  church 
has  not  to  devise  any  institution  for  the  dissemination  of 
Christianity,  but  that  it  is  God's  concern  to  effect  this  through 
special  Apostles.  "  Christians  require  to  do  nothing  else  than 
what  they  have  done  hitherto;  let  every  one  occupy  his 
station  for  the  Gospel,  and  the  kingdom  of  Christ  will  grow." 

12.  Almost  similar  is  Zwingli's  position.  He  expressly 
asserts  that  the  Apostles  indeed  filled  the  greatest  part  of  the 
earth  with  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  but  yet  that  they  did  not 
go  everywhere ;  and  he  infers  from  this  that  the  work  of 
world-missions  which  was  begun  by  them  must  be  continued. 
"  Id  et  factum  est  et  fit  quotidie."  [That  both  has  been  done  and 
is  being  done  every  day.]  There  are  apostles  still,  and  "  their 
office  is  ever  to  go  among  the  unbelieving,  and  to  turn  them  to 
the  faith,  while  the  bishop  remains  stationary  by  those  com- 
mitted to  his  care";  and  Zwingli  contests  with  the  Ana- 
baptists their  claim  to  apostolic  succession,  because  their 
apostles  do  not  do  that.  So  there  would  seem  to  be  in  his 
case  the  presuppositions  at  least  of  continued  missionary 
preaching,  but  he  too  does  not  draw  the  conclusions.  At 
best  his  view  can  be  thus  explained :  if  in  the  present  time 
messengers  are  willing  to  go  at  their  own  risk  beyond  the 
bounds  of  Christendom,  they  ought  to  be  certain  that  they 
have  the  call  of  God  to  their  mission,  but  in  what  he  says 
there  is  not  a  word  as  to  the  duty  on  the  part  of  the  church 
to  send  out  missionaries. 

13.  In  Calvin,  too,  there  is  found  no  recognition  of  such  a 
duty.  He  does  not,  indeed,  teach  directly  that  already  through 
the  Apostles  the  Gospel  has  been  preached  in  the  whole  world, 
but  "fulgetri  instar  celeriter  Christum  ab  ortu  in  occasum 
penetrare,  ut  undique  gentes  in  ecclesiam  accerseret"  [that 
Christ  penetrates  quickly,  like  the  lightning  from  the  east  to 
the  west,  that  he  may  call  the  nations  everywhere  into  the 
church].  Thus  the  extension  of  Christianity  is  still  in  pro- 
gress, albeit  the  apostolate  was  a  "  munus  extraordinarium " 
[extraordinary  office],  which  as  such  has  not  been  perpetuated 
in  the  Christian  church.  "  Docemur,  non  hominum  industria, 
vel  promoveri  vel  fulciri  Christi  regnum,  sed  hoc  unius  Dei 
esse  opus  ;  quia  ad  solam  ejus  benedictionem  confugere  docen- 


20  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tur  fideles."  [We  are  taught  that  the  kingdom  of  Christ  is 
neither  to  be  advanced  nor  maintained  by  the  industry  of  men, 
but  this  is  the  work  of  God  alone ;  for  believers  are  taught  to 
rest  solely  on  His  blessing.]  Hence  for  him  also  it  follows 
necessarily  that  a  special  institution  for  the  extension  of 
Christianity  among  no:) -Christian  nations,  i.e.  for  missions,  is 
needless.1.  Only  the  Christian  magistracy  has  the  duty  of 
introducing  the  true  religion  into  a  still  unbelieving  land — 
an  idea  which,  after  its  later  canonical  development  among  the 
Lutherans  as  among  the  Reformed,  not  only  came  more  and 
more  to  the  front  as  a  theory,  but  was  also  practically  acted 
upon,  being  recommended  perhaps  by  the  example  of  the 
Catholic  colonial  powers,  a  circumstance  which  doubtless  told 
in  the  case  of  the  old  Dutch  colonial  missions. 

14.  Only  one  theologian  of  the  Reformation  period  has 
been  able  to  emancipate  himself  completely  from  the  spell  of 
these  views,  a  man  whose  name  has  hitherto  been  almost  un- 
known even  to  specialists, — it  is  Adrianus  Sara  via,  a  Dutch- 
man, born  in  1531,  who  was  a  Reformed  pastor,  first  in  Antwerp, 
then  in  Brussels,  and  then — after  a  short  stay  in  England, 
whither  he  iled  from  Alva — from  1582  to  1587  preacher  and 
professor  in  Leyden,  whence  for  political  reasons  he  crossed 
over  to  England  for  good,  and  there  attained  to  high  esteem, 
and  died  as  Dean  of  Westminster  in  1613.  This  Saravia 
published  in  1590  a  treatise,  entitled  Dc  diversis  ministrorum 

1  [It  may  be  also  noticed  that  Calvin's  exposition  of  the  missionary  com- 
mandment is  silent  regarding  a  missionary  duty  on  the  part  of  the  Church. 
The  sound  exegesis,  historic  insight,  largeness  of  view,  and  fine  regard  to  the 
general  scope  of  the  passage,  which  distinguished  Calvin  as  a  commentator, 
have  not  failed  him  in  his  exposition  of  these  words  of  the  Risen  Lord ;  but 
they  are  polarised  by  the  controversies  of  his  time.  And  so  the  words  of  our 
Lord  are  shown  to  be  in  clear  and  broad  antagonism  to  certain  Romish  and 
Anabaptist  teachings  ;  but  the  command  to  go  into  all  the  world  is  spoken  of 
only  in  its  connection  with  the  Apostles,  not  indeed  in  such  a  way  as  to  ex- 
clude its  application  to  subsequent  generations,  but  yet  without  any  such 
application. 

In  Scotland  the  conditions  of  the  Reformation  practically  excluded  oppor- 
tunity or  room  for  the  consideration  of  the  duty  of  the  church  to  the  heatheu 
world.  The  struggle  for  the  establishment  of  the  Reformed  faith  absorbed  the 
thoughts  and  energies  of  the  Reformers.  Rut  as  indicating  the  missionary 
promise  which  lay  in  the  sentiments  entertained  by  Knox  and  his  colleagues, 
it  may  be  noticed  that  the  very  first  printed  and  official  edition  of  the  Scottish 
Confession,  which  they  presented  to  Parliament  iu  1560,  bore  on  its  title-page 
the  text:  "And  this  glad  tidings  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  throughout 
the  whole  world  for  a  witness  to  all  nations  ;  and  then  shall  the  end  come." 
Further,  the  Confession  itself  is  distinguished  among  the  Reformed  Confessions 
by  closing  with  a  prayer,  which  is  as  follows:  "Arise,  0  Lord,  and  let  Thine 
enemies  be  confounded  ;  let  them  flee  before  Thy  presence  that  hate  Thy  godly 
name.  Give  Thy  servants  strength  to  speak  Thy  word  in  boldness  ;  and  let 
all  nations  attain  to  Thy  true  knowledge."  It  is  a  prayer  for  the  Divine 
presence  in  its  conquering,  sifting,  and  strengthening  power,  culminating  in 
a  missionary  outlook.— Ed.] 


THE  AGE  OF  THE  REFORMATION  21 

evangelii  gradibus,  sic  ut  a  Domino  fuerunt  instituti.  [Con- 
cerning the  different  orders  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel,  as 
they  were  instituted  by  the  Lord.]  It  is  not  indeed  a  directly 
missionary  treatise,  but  it  deals  with  missions  in  a  special 
chapter,  in  which  he  adduces  proof  that  the  Apostles  themselves 
could  only  have  carried  out  the  missionary  command  in  a 
very  limited  measure,  and  therefore  this  command  applied 
not  merely  to  them  personally,  but  to  the  whole  Church  in 
all  subsequent  times.  The  proper  purpose  of  the  above-named 
writing  is  to  commend  and  defend  the  episcopal  constitution 
over  against  the  Calvinistic.  The  episcopal  office  is  needed 
for  the  maintenance  and  strengthening  of  existing  churches, 
as  well  as  for  the  planting  of  new  ones :  so  he  finds  occasion 
to  speak  of  missions.  The  chapter  in  question  bears  the 
rubric :  "  The  command  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  all  nations 
binds  the  Church,  since  the  Apostles  have  been  taken  up  into 
heaven :  for  this,  apostolic  power  is  needed." 

In  this  chapter  Sara  via  expounds  the  following  ideas :  The 
mandate  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  all  the  world,  and  the  duty  of 
missions  to  all  nations,  extends  to  every  century  until  the  end 
of  the  world — (1)  Because  it  is  connected  with  the  promise,  "  Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  As 
certainly  as  this  promise  holds  good  not  for  the  Apostles  only, 
but  for  all  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  so  certainly  also  does  the 
command  "  Go."  (2)  Because,  by  choosing  fellow-workers  and 
successors  in  their  mission  -  work,  the  Apostles  themselves 
testify  that  to  them  was  committed  only  the  beginning  of 
this  work.  (3)  Because  the  work  was  far  too  great  for  the  few 
Apostles  to  be  able  to  accomplish  it  within  the  short  span  of 
their  own  lives.  And  (4)  because  a  long  missionary  history 
testifies  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  dissemination  of  the 
Gospel  has  been  continually  carried  forward  among  new 
peoples.  Even  to-day  the  Gospel  has  not  yet  been  proclaimed 
to  all  nations ;  and  it  is  not  fanaticism,  but  the  duty  of  the 
church,  to  be  obedient  to  the  missionary  mandate,  which  was 
only  in  the  first  instance  communicated  to  the  Apostles.  As 
this  is  the  church's  duty,  so  also  for  this  the  church  possesses 
the  power.  If  it  is  not  done,  the  cause  is  only  the  lack  of 
apostolic  men  and  of  a  living  missionary  zeal.  There  must 
indeed  be  the  possession  of  spiritual  equipment  if  one  is  to 
undertake  this  great  work.  But  since  the  individual  may 
deceive  himself  regarding  his  call  to  such  work,  the  power  of 
the  church  must  give  him  authorisation.  This  lies  in  the 
power  of  the  keys  committed  not  so  much  to  Peter  as  to  the 
church.  If  in  these  expositions  the  proof  of  a  continuous 
missionary  obligation  resting  upon  the  church  is  vivified  by 


22  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

that  of  the  necessity  of  an  episcopal  constitution,  still  there 
is  disclosed  in  them  a  sound  understanding  of  the  missionary 
command. 

Unhappily,  this  disclosure  was  without  any  influence  upon 
his  contemporaries.  On  the  contrary,  in  1592,  Theodore  Beza, 
in  Geneva,  published  a  reply :  Ad  tractationem  de  ministrorum 
evangelii  gmdibus  ab  Hadriano  Saravia,  Belga  [Upon  the  Tract 
by  Hadrian  Saravia,  Belgian,  concerning  the  orders  of  the  Gospel 
ministry],  in  which  he  not  only  defended  the  Calvinistic 
doctrine  of  the  constitution  of  the  church  against  the  Anglican, 
but  also  disputed  the  interpretation  of  the  missionary  com- 
mand given  by  Saravia.  Beza  concedes  indeed  that  in 
Matt,  xxviii.  the  promise  and  the  command  belong  to  one 
another,  but  he  raises  the  objection  that  in  the  command  a 
distinction  must  be  drawn  between  what  referred  exclusively 
to  the  Apostles,  which  was  the  sending  of  them  out  to  all 
nations,  and  what  remains  for  all  time,  which  is  only  a  call 
to  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  general ;  every  enlightened 
Christian  is  bound  on  every  occasion  to  combat  false  doctrine 
and  to  testify  to  the  true  doctrine.  It  is  true,  Beza  does  not 
deny  that  the  onus  of  furthering  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
all  places  is  laid  upon  all  believing  churches ;  but  since  he 
affirms  that  the  Geneva  church  has  also  done  that,  it  is 
probable  that  he  is  thinking  only  of  the  preachers  sent  out 
by  it  into  France,  Holland,  and  England,  and  perhaps  also  of 
the  four  colonial  ministers  sent  from  Geneva  to  Brazil.  With 
reference  to  a  mission  to  the  heathen,  he  expresses  himself  so 
obscurely  that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  whether  in  what 
he  says  he  is  in  earnest  or  not.  For  his  own  part,  he  says 
neither  that  it  ought  to  be  effected,  nor  how. 

The  discussion  between  Saravia  and  Beza  did  not  produce 
any  change  in  the  Keformers'  views  of  missions,  although  the 
former  wrote  a  refutation  of  the  latter's  reply.  Quarter  of 
a  century  later,  the  great  Lutheran  dogmatician,  Johan 
Gerhard,  in  his  Loci  thcologici,  entered  the  lists  against 
Saravia,  with  far  greater  severity  and  dogmatic  subtlety ;  with 
what  scholastic  reasons,  wo  shall  afterwards  hear.1 

15.  If,  nevertheless,  the  Reformation  period  gave  birth  to 
two  undertakings  which  have  been  registered  as  missions,  these 

1  It  may  only  be  noticed  here  how  Gerhard  refutes  the  assertion  of  Saravia 
that  the  command  and  the  promise  in  Matt,  xxviii.  19,  20  are  inseparably 
connected.  In  Matt,  xxviii.  the  command  alone  applies  to  the  Apostles ;  the 
promise  annexed  applies,  on  the  other  band,  not  only  to  all  pastors,  but  to  all 
believers.  For  in  Matt,  xviii.  20  it  is  written  that  "where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  in  My  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  If,  then,  it  is  asserted 
that  the  missionary  command  is  co-extensive  with  the  promise  annexed,  it 
would  follow  that  all  believers  must'  go  to  the  heathen,  -which  is  absurd. 


THE   AGE  OF  THE   REFORMATION  23 

have  their  explanation  in  the  view  entertained  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical duty  of  the  civil  authority ;  in  particular,  of  the  colonial 
civil  authority.  One  of  these  undertakings  issued  from  the 
Reformed  church,  the  other  from  the  Lutheran.  The  former 
had  to  do  with  the  planting  of  a  French  colony  in  Brazil, 
which  one  must  guard  against  magnifying  into  a  great  mis- 
sionary effort  on  the  part  of  the  Reformed  church.  Under 
the  direction  of  an  unprincipled  French  adventurer,  who  had 
outwardly  gone  over  to  Protestantism,  Durand  de  Villegaignon, 
and  encouraged  by  Coligny,  who  like  them  had  been  deceived 
by  false  representations,  a  number  of  Frenchmen  of  the  Ee- 
formed creed  went  in  1555  and  1556  to  Brazil  to  found  there 
a  French  colony,  which  should  also  offer  an  asylum  to  the 
sorely  beset  Protestants  at  home.  From  Brazil  Villegaignon 
turned  to  Geneva,  and  wrote  a  letter  to  Calvin,  in  which  he 
begged  the  sending  out  of  pious  Christians  and  preachers,  that 
they  might  exert  a  good  influence  upon  the  colonists  and  also 
declare  the  Gospel  to  the  native  heathen.  Unhappily,  we  have 
not  this  letter  to  Calvin,  nor  the  reply  presumably  sent  by  the 
Genevan  Keformer,  so  that  we  do  not  know  how  far  he  took 
part  in  the  undertaking.  But  even  if  it  could  be  established 
as  probable  that  the  preachers  were  sent  with  Calvin's  sym- 
pathy, the  proof  is  awanting  that  the  Genevan  Keformer  con- 
templated an  independent  mission  to  the  heathen.  Four 
clergymen,  besides  a  number  of  other  persons  from  Geneva, 
mostly  artisans,  actually  made  the  journey,  and  some  300 
Frenchmen  joined  them.  But  Villegaignon,  who  meanwhile 
had  gone  back  to  the  Catholic  church,  treated  them  as  traitors, 
and  banished  them  from  the  colony ;  and  since  they  could  not 
maintain  themselves  among  the  natives,  they  returned  home, 
through  great  hardships  and  perils,  in  a  wretched  ship,  while 
of  five  who  again  left  the  frail  craft  Villegaignon  condemned 
three,  on  account  of  their  faith,  to  death.  One  of  the  clergymen, 
indeed,  Kichier,  wrote  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  in  Brazil 
that  they  had  purposed  to  win  the  native  heathen  for  Christ, 
but  that  their  barbarism,  their  cannibalism,  their  spiritual 
dulness, etc., "extinguished  all  their  hope."  Besides,  the  differ- 
ence of  language  and  the  want  of  interpreters  presented  an 
insuperable  obstacle.  So  that,  although  expression  was  again 
given  to  the  hope  that  "  these  Edomites  might  still  become 
Christ's  possession"  if  new  settlers  should  come,  the  enter- 
prise certainly  never  got  the  length  of  an  earnest  missionary 
endeavour.1 

16.  The    case  was   similar   with   the   Lutheran   so-called 

1  Brown,  The  History  of  the  Christian  Missions  in  the  16th,  17th,  18th,  and 
19th  Centuries,  London,  1864,  3  vols.,  i.  7. 


24  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

missionary  endeavour.  In  1559,  King  Gustavus  Vasa  of 
Sweden  began  to  incorporate  into  the  Evangelical  church  the 
Lapps,  who  dwelt  in  the  extreme  north  of  his  kingdom,  and 
who  in  the  twelfth  century  had  been  made  nominally  Catholic, 
but  at  bottom  remained  entirely  heathen.  In  reality  this  state- 
church  mission  was  more  a  reforming  act  of  territorial  church 
authority  than  a  proper  mission  to  the  heathen,  as  it  con- 
sisted only  in  the  sending  of  pastors  and  the  establishment 
of  parishes.  It  failed,  and  that  principally  because  of  the  lack 
of  missionary  qualities  on  the  part  of  the  clergymen  who  were 
sent ;  and  also  later,  when  Charles  xi.  and  Gustavus  Adolphus 
eagerly  favoured  the  work.  It  was  Thomas  von  Westen  who, 
in  the  second  decade  of  the  eighteenth  century,  first  established 
a  real  mission  to  the  Lapps.  But  after  his  early  death  in 
1827  it  almost  became  extinct,  and  was  revived  only  in  the 
nineteenth  century  under  Stockfleth  (d.  1866).1 

1  Brown,  The  History  of  the  Cliristian  Missions,  i.  7, 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY 

Section  I.  In  Germany 

17.  In  the  period  after  the  Reformation,  until  Pietism 
reached  its  strength,  no  real  missionary  activity  began  in 
Germany.  The  reason  of  this  did  not  lie  only  in  the  fact 
that  the  world  beyond  the  sea  had  never  as  yet  come  within 
the  purview  of  German  Protestantism,  and  that  the  political 
conditions,  chiefly  the  unhappy  Thirty  Years'  War,  did  not 
allow  missionary  enterprise  to  be  thought  of ;  the  reason  still 
lay  in  the  theology  which  either  did  not  permit  missionary 
ideas  to  arise  at  all,  or,  if  these  began  to  find  desultory  ex- 
pression, most  keenly  combated  them.  It  was  still  essentially 
the  views  of  the  Reformers  which  determined  the  attitude  of 
orthodoxy  to  missions,  only  these  views  assumed  a  much  more 
systematic  and  polemical  cast. 

There  were  indeed  in  the  course  of  the  seventeenth  century 
some  single  enterprises  which  have  been  written  of  as  missionary 
endeavours.  Seven  pious  young  men  from  Lubeck  (all  jurists,  as 
it  appears),  who  were  together  in  Paris  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century,  bound  themselves  to- 
gether— perhaps  under  the  influence  of  Hugo  Grotius,  who  was 
then  the  Swedish  ambassador  in  Paris,  and  who,  by  way  of  liter- 
ary help  to  the  Dutch  colonial  mission,  had  written  a  treatise, 
Be,  veritate  religionis  Christianas,  which  was  afterwards  trans- 
lated into  Malay  and  Arabic — "  to  awaken  the  lapsed  churches 
of  the  East  to  new  evangelical  life."  Only  of  three  of  them 
do  we  know  that  they  actually  journeyed  to  the  East  with  this 
aim.  Of  two  of  these  (von  Dome  and  Blumenhagen)  we  have 
no  further  tidings.  The  third,  Peter  Heiling,  betook  himself 
in  1634,  after  a  two  years'  stay  in  Egypt,  to  Abyssinia ;  there 
he  certainly  exerted  some  influence,  and  also  translated  the 
New  Testament  into  Amharic  After  about  twenty  years' 
residence  in  the  land,  he  died  a  martyr.  His  work,  however, 
had  no  abiding  result,  for  he  had  no  successors ;  and  besides, 


26  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

it  can  as  little  be  reckoned  a  mission  to  the  heathen  as  the 
endeavours  directed  to  the  revival  of  the  Christian  churches  of 
the  East  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Much  less  can  the  embassy  to  Abyssinia,  sent  forth  by 
Ernest  the  Pious,  Duke  of  Gotha,  in  1663,  which  also  did  not 
attain  its  purpose,  be  accounted  a  missionary  endeavour;  or 
that  sent  to  Persia  from  the  court  of  Gotha  in  1635,  in  which 
Paul  Elemming,  the  author  of  the  hymn,  "In  alien  meinen 
Thaten,"  took  part. 

18.  But  if  there  was  not  yet  any  missionary  action,  still,  from 
the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century  onwards,  missionary 
ideas  occasionally  emerged,  at  first  very  fragmentary,  isolated, 
and  hesitating,  but  gradually  more  consistent,  more  frequent, 
and  bolder.  Only,  they  met  with  the  bitterest  opposition  on 
the  part  of  the  most  noted  leaders  of  orthodoxy.  Following 
Grossel,1  the  representatives  of  these  ideas  may  be  divided  into 
three  groups — (1)  such  as  did  not  recognise  a  duty  resting  on 
the  church  to  send  out  missionaries,  but  who  imputed  to 
Christian  rulers  of  heathen  peoples  the  right,  even  the  duty, 
of  Christianising  these;  (2)  such  as  owned  in  principle  the 
missionary  duty  of  the  church,  but  did  not  deem  the  time  and 
opportunity  suitable  for  the  practical  discharge  of  it ;  and  (3) 
such  as,  without  reserve,  affirmed  missions  to  be  the  business 
of  the  church.  Praetorius,  Meisner,  Calixtus,  Scultetus,  Joh. 
E.  Gerhard  (the  younger),  Duraeus,  Dannhauer,  Haveman, 
Veiel,  and  other  theologians  were  the  first  to  raise  their  voice, 
principally,  it  is  true,  to  complain  of  the  lack  of  the  missionary 
understanding,  or  to  remind  the  civil  authorities  of  their 
missionary  duties ; 2  but  such  voices  were  very  feeble,  and  as 
they  wanted  practical  point,  they  died  away  almost  altogether 
unheard. 

19.  Over-against  these  friends  of  missions,  however,  there 
was  an  overwhelming  band  of  adversaries,  who,  at  the  utmost, 
recognised  a  missionary  duty  on  the  part  of  colonial  authorities, 
or  limited  that  duty  to  the  occasional  testimony  of  Christians 
living  among  non-Christians.     And  it  was  dogmatic  confusion, 

1  Grusse],  Die  Mission  und  die  cvanqcliscJic  Kirche  im  17  JaJirhuudcrt, 
Gotha,  1807. 

2  Prayers  for  missions,  however,  find  utterance  in  severnl  church  hymns  of 
the  seventeen!  h  century,  as,  e.g.  in  Boehra's  "0  Konig  allcr  Ehren,"  and  later  in 
Gryphius'  "  Erhalt  uns  reine  Lehre,"  P.  Gerhardt's  "Was  Weisheit  in  der 
Welt,"  and  Olearius'  "  Komm  du  wertcs  Lbsegeld." 

On  the  basis  of  a  sound  exposition  of  the  missionary  commandment,  Amos 
Comenius,  a  far-seeing  member  of  the  church  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren, 
includes  missions  among  the  essential  activities  of  a  living  church.  In 
particular,  this  great  man  had  in  his  mind  the  idea  of  translating  the  Biblo 
into  Turkish  and  sending  it  to  the  Sultan.  His  missionary  ideas  are  found  in 
the  treatise  which  appeared  in  1644-45,  Judicium  duplex  dc  rcgula  fdei. 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  27 

perverting  both  exegesis  and  history,  which  motived  the 
repudiation  of  the  missionary  obligation.  The  confusion 
consisted  substantially  in  this — (1)  the  missionary  charge  was 
limited  to  the  Apostles,  and  it  was  regarded  as  a  historic  fact 
that  the  Apostles  had  already  proclaimed  the  Gospel  to  the 
whole  world ;  and  (2)  there  was  constructed  an  artificial  theory 
of  the  apostolic  office  and  its  diversity  from  the  office  of 
preaching,  from  which  the  inference  was  drawn,  that  the 
church  had  no  call  to  missions  to  the  heathen,  and  no 
authority  to  impart  such  a  call.  Out  of  this  host  of  adversaries 
we  recall  only  the  best  known  names  —  Porta,  Hunnius, 
Ehinger,  Joh.  Muller,  Balduin,  Brochmand,  Eichsfeld,  Osiander, 
Musaus,  Fecht,  Zentgrav.  We  submit  a  little  in  detail  only 
two  characteristic  testimonies  from  authoritative  quarters  and 
of  far-reaching  influence,  which  perhaps  most  signally  illustrate 
the  negative  attitude  of  orthodoxy  to  missions. 

Count  Erhardt  Truchsess  of  Wetzhausen  addressed  him- 
self to  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Wittenberg,  one  of  the  leading 
representatives  of  Lutheran  orthodoxy,  that,  amongst  other 
matters,  he  might  elicit  an  answer  to  the  "  Scruple  " :  "  Since 
faith  comes  alone  from  preaching,  I  would  know  how  East  and 
South  and  West  shall  be  converted  to  the  only  saving  faith, 
since  I  see  no  one  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  go  forth  thither, 
...  so  reasonable  must  it  surely  be  to  obey  the  command  of 
Christ, '  Ite  in  mundum  universum ' "  [Go  ye  into  all  the  world], 
and  so  forth.  In  reply,  the  Faculty  issued  an  Opinion,  the 
substance  of  which  is  to  us  of  to-day  almost  incomprehensible, 
and  is  somewhat  as  follows: — (1)  The  command  Itc  mundum 
universum  is  only  a  personate  jprivilegium  of  the  Apostles,  like  the 
gift  of  miracles,  and  has  actually  been  already  fulfilled,  as  these 
Scripture  passages  prove,  Mk.  xvi.  20;  Rom.  x.  18;  Ps.  xix.  4, 
etc.,  Col.  i.  23.  Else  in  virtue  of  such  a  command  all  and  every 
preacher,  even  the  Pope  himself,  must  go  out  and  preach  in 
all  the  world,  which  nevertheless  does  not  take  place.  On  the 
ground  of  Acts  xiv.  23,  xx.  18 ;  1  Pet.  v.  1 ;  Tit.  i.  5,  it  is  then 
inferred  that,  since  the  Apostles  appointed  bishops  and  preachers 
here  and  there  who  should  tend  only  the  church  of  Christ 
specially  entrusted  to  them, therefore  neither  Papists  nor  Luther- 
ans can  show  a  distinct  Divine  command  to  preach  in  all  the 
world,  but  each  is  bound  to  remain  by  Ins  church  to  which  he 
has  been  duly  called.  (2)  But  if  it  is  asked,  How  then  shall 
the  East,  the  South,  and  the  West  be  converted  to  the 
Christian  faith,  since  no  one  of  the  adherents  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession  goes  forth  thither,  the  answer  is,  that  no  man  is  to 
be  excused  before  God  by  reason  of  ignorance,  because  He 
has  not  only  revealed  Himself  to  all  men  through  the  light  of 


28  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

nature  (Eom.  i.  and  ii. ;  Acts  xvii.  27) ;  "  but  also  in  different 
ages,  through  Adam,  Noah,  and  the  holy  Apostles,  He  has  been 
preached  to  the  whole  human  race."  If  they  now  sit  in 
darkness,  that  is  the  punishment  of  their  heedlessness  and 
ingratitude.  "  God  is  not  bound  to  restore  to  such  nations 
'  quod  scmel  juste  ablatum  est '  [what  has  once  been  justly 
taken  away],  just  as  a  judge  is  not  bound  to  give  back  life  or 
money  or  goods  to  an  evil-doer  from  whom  by  judgment  and 
justice  they  have  once  been  taken,  and  in  '  crimine  lacsae 
majestatis'  the  children  and  descendants  must  suffer  for  the 
misdeeds  of  their  ancestors."  The  Opinion  appeals  in  proof  to 
Acts  xiii.  46,  and  xviii.  6,  and  then  it  adds  in  milder  strain  that 
amongst  Turks,  papal  potentates,  and  barbarous  non-Christian 
peoples  "  there  are  always  found,  by  the  decree  of  God,  many 
Christians  by  whom  they  may  be  guided,  and  ever  and  anon 
by  the  wondrous  gracious  order  of  God  true  believers  have 
suffered,  and  could  in  this  way  do  service  to  God  by  which 
others  may  be  brought  to  the  true  knowledge  of  Him."  (3)  It 
belongs  to  the  guardians  and  nurses  of  the  church,  that  is, 
to  the  powers  of  the  state  which,  whether  'jure  belli'  or  by 
other  lawful  means,  have  brought  such  sinners  and  non- 
Christian  nations  under  their  sway,  and  to  the  high  sovereign 
authority  which  the  state  has  over  the  church,  specially  to 
promote  right  worship,  to  build  churches  and  schools,  and  to 
appoint  preachers,  so  that  everywhere  the  true  knowledge  of 
God  shall  be  spread," — a  duty  of  the  authorities  which  the 
Faculty  urges  by  the  example  of  the  kings  of  Israel. 

20.  With  almost  greater  austerity,  at  an  earlier  date,  does 
-I(»li.  Gerhard,  the  great  dogmatic  theologian  of  Jena  (d.  1G37), 
state  the  reason  for  the  negative  attitude  of  orthodoxy  in  his 
time  towards  missions  to  the  heathen  in  his  Loci  thcologici, 
particularly  "  De  ccclesia  "  (xxiii.)  and  "  De  ministerio  ecclesi- 
astico "  (xxiv.).  He  also  understands  by  the  "  vocatio  uni- 
versalis "  [universal  call]  the  revelation  of  God  to  all  men  in 
the  time  of  Adam,  in  the  time  after  the  flood,  and  in  the  time 
of  the  Apostles.  These  last  actually  preached  the  Gospel  to 
all  nations,  or  at  least  the  report  or  echo  of  their  preaching 
extended  l<>  all  nations.  Proof  for  this  he  finds  in  the  four 
Scripture  passages  already  quoted  in  the  Wittenberg  Opinion. 
Those  nations  to  whom  the  Apostles  preached,  "ex  quibus 
omnes  familiae  nationuni,  linguarum  et  gentium  sunt  pro- 
pagatae,  debuissent  sinceritatem  verbi  ad  posteros  propagare, 
quod  vero  illud  non  fuerit  factum,  id  cum  hominum  culpa 
contigerit  nee  vocationis  universalitati  ncc  divinae  liberalitati 
quidquam  praejudicat "  (sec.  40)  [from  which  all  families  of 
nations,   tongues,  and    peoples  are  descended,  ought  to  have 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  29 

propagated  the  sincere  matter  of  the  Word  to  their  descendants ; 
that  they  have  not  done  this  happens  by  the  fault  of  men, 
and  does  not  in  the  least  prejudice  either  the  universality  of 
the  call,  or  Divine  liberality]. 

But  yet  more  surprising  is  the  historical  evidence  by  which 
the  great  dogmatic  theologian  maintains  the  reality  of  the 
universal  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  apostolic  age.  His 
attempt  is  an  instructive  illustration  not  only  of  the  uncritical 
and  naive,  but  also  dogmatically  biassed  treatment  of  history 
which  prevailed  at  the  time;  and  therefore  we  must  here 
reproduce  it  at  somewhat  greater  length. 

The  paragraph  (sec.  186)  in  which  Gerhard  repels  the 
Eomish  pretension,  that  the  majority  of  Christians  are  under 
the  sway  of  the  Pope,  discovers  marvellous  things :  in  Great 
Tartary  there  are  more  Christians  than  in  all  Europe,  who  are 
not  Eomish,  but  adhere  to  a  purer  faith;  India  is  full  of 
Thomasites,  Egypt  of  Jacobites.  "Supra  Egyptum  panditur 
ingens  illud  christiani  Ethiopum  monarchae  pretiosi  Johannis 
imperium,  qui  regnis  plus  minus  quadraginta  dominari  dicitur  " 
[Above  Egypt  extends  the  huge  kingdom  of  John,  the  excellent 
Christian  monarch  of  the  Ethiopians,  who  is  said  to  rule  not 
less  than  forty  kingdoms], — all  full  of  evangelically  minded 
Christians  since  the  days  of  the  Ethiopian  Eunuch.  Even  in 
Tunis,  Fez,  and  Morocco  true  Christianity  has  its  lodging. 
But  even  these  unsophisticated  statements  are  surpassed  in 
sec.  188.  Here,  first,  the  "modus  conversions "  which  the 
Jesuits  employed  in  "novo  orbe"  (America)  is  described  as 
"  tyrannicus,  crudelis  et  apostolico  longissime  discrepans " 
[tyrannical,  cruel,  and  as  far  as  possible  divergent  from  the 
apostolical] ;  then  protest  is  made  against  their  assertion, 
"  nomen  Christi  in  illis  insulis  antea  nunquam  auditum  fuisse  " 
[that  the  name  of  Christ  had  never  before  been  heard  in  these 
islands],  and  it  is  averred  that  America  had  been  known  to 
the  ancients,  and  had  only  again  been  forgotten  and  closed: 
"verisimile  igitur  est,  apostolicam  evangelii  praedicationem 
jam  olim  ad  ilia  loca  pervenisse,  cum  Paulus  (Col.  i.  23 ; 
Rom.  x.  16)  testatur,  evangelium  in  toto  orbe  fructifasse  ac 
primis  ecclesiae  Christianae  temporibus  null  gens  fuerit  nota, 
ad  quam  evangelii  praedicationis  sonus  nondum  pervenerit " 
[it  is  therefore  very  probable  that  an  apostolic  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  reached  already  long  ago  to  those  places,  since  Paul 
testifies  that  the  Gospel  had  brought  forth  fruit  in  the  whole 
world,  and  in  the  early  times  of  the  Christian  church  there 
was  no  nation  known  to  which  the  sound  of  the  Gospel  had 
not  reached],  which  is  established  by  a  host  of  quotations  from 
Justin,  Tertullian,  Jerome,   Ambrose,  Irenaeus,  Chrysostom, 


30  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

and  Augustine.  But  the  line  of  proof  becomes  still  more 
monstrous.  The  ancient  Mexicans  received  Christianity  from 
the  Ethiopians,  because  with  them,  as  with  the  latter,  there  is 
found  a  connection  of  baptism  with  circumcision.  The  ancient 
Brazilians  must  have  known  it,  because  an  old  man  assured 
Joh.  Lerius l  of  having  heard  about  their  ancestors,  that  long 
time  since  a  bearded  foreigner  had  brought  to  the  land  a 
message  like  that  which  he  now  brought ;  only,  it  had  not  been 
believed,  and  had  again  been  forgotten.  The  ancient  Peruvians 
had  known  Christianity,  because  they  believe  in  an  im- 
mortality of  the  soul,  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  a  great 
universal  flood.  And  in  similar  manner  the  acquaintance  of 
the  ancient  Indians  and  Chinese  with  Christianity  is  de- 
monstrated. The  Brahmins  know  of  incarnations,  of  holy 
days,  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  etc. ;  and  in  China  there  has 
been  found  a  picture  of  three  heads  looking  to  one  another 
(the  Trinity),  a  picture  of  a  maiden  with  a  child,  and  another 
of  twelve  men,  who  had  become  famous  through  their  wisdom 
and  had  been  transformed  into  angels.  Books  also  have  been 
preserved  by  them,  according  to  which  the  Apostle  Thomas 
had  journeyed  in  China.2 

Alongside  of  this  historical  demonstration  of  the  alleged 
universal  extension  of  Christianity  in  the  past,  Gerhard  up- 
roots every  missionary  idea  in  his  dogmatic  discussions  on  the 
apostolate,  which  were  invested  with  all  the  dignity  of  church 
doctrine. 

1  One  of  the  four  colonial  clergymen  sent  out  from  Geneva  to  Brazil,  who 
left  a  Historia  navigation-is  in  Brasiliam. 

2  This  dogmatically  biassed,  unhistoric  conception,  that  the  Apostles 
preached  the  Gospel  to  the  whole  world,  lasted  into  the  eighteenth  century. 
Joh.  Albert  Fabricius  records  it  as  still  prevailing  up  to  1731,  but  for  himself  does 
not  defend  it.  This  erudite  theologian  of  Hamburg  has  written  a  large  book,  of 
930  quarto  pages,  showing  marvellous  reading,  concerning  the  extension  of 
Christianity  up  to  his  time,  a  book,  indeed,  which  must  be  called  less  a  history 
of  missions  than  a  catalogue  of  missionary  literature.  It  bears  the  circum- 
stantial title :  Salutaris  lux  evangelii  toti  orbi  per  divinam  graliam  exoriens, 
sive  notitia  historico-chronologica  literaria  et  geographica  propagator um  per 
orhem  totum  Christianorum  sacrorum  (Hamburg,  1731).  In  this  work 
Fabricius  registers,  with  almost  faultless  completeness,  the  literary  testimonies 
from  the  most  ancient  times  onwards,  which  bear  upon  the  spread  of  Christi- 
anity, along  with  a  modest  attempt  at  historic  criticism.  Thus  in  chap.  5  : 
Amplituto  et  successus  propagatae  per  apostolos  lucis  cvangelicae,  he  contents 
himself,  after  enumerating  authenticated  facts,  with  designating  such  as  are 
legendary  as  traditiones  non  perinde  cerlae,  and  in  the  survey  which  he  takes 
of  I  lie  countries  of  Europe  (chaps.  15-23),  as  of  Asia  and  Africa  (chaps.  32-46), 
he  at  least  avoids  gross  unhistoric  exaggeration.  He  very  decidedly  contradicts 
the  assumption  that  the  Apostles  had  formerly  preached  even  in  America,  and 
in  this  connection  he  ventures,  in  harmony  with  Joh.  Quistorp,  whom  he  cites, 
to  declare  that  the  assertions  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Fathers  of  the  church  as 
to  the  preaching  in  the  whole  world  having  had  place  in  their  time,  must 
partly  be  referred  only  to  the  world  as  known  to  them,  and  partly  be  under- 
stood as  hyperbole  (p.  7CG). 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  3 1 

Locus  xxiv.  cap.  v.  sec.  220  reads :  "  In  apostolatu  consider- 
atur:  1,  mmisterium  docendi  evangelium  et  administrandi 
sacramenta  cum  potestate  clavium ;  2,  sKiax.o'jrr},  inspectio  non 
solum  gregis  dominici  sed  etiam  aliorum  presbyterorum ; 
3,  potestas  praedicandi  in  toto  terrarum  orbe  cum  immediata 
vocatione,  dono  miraculorum  vinpoyri  auroiriorio  ac  privilegio 
infallibilitatis  conjuncta."  [In  the  apostolate  there  is  to  be 
regarded :  1,  the  ministry  of  preaching  the  Gospel  and 
administering  the  sacraments  with  the  power  of  the  keys ; 
2,  supervision  not  only  of  the  flock  of  God,  but  even  of  other 
presbyters ;  3,  authority  to  preach  in  the  whole  world,  con- 
joined with  an  immediate  call,  the  gift  of  miracles,  the  preroga- 
tive of  eye-witnesses,  and  the  privilege  of  infallibility.]  Whilst 
the  first  two  attributes  of  the  apostleship  passed  over  to  the  ser- 
vants and  office-bearers  of  the  church,  and  so  were  continuous 
functions,  Gerhard  teaches :  "  Eespectu  tertii  nullus  fuit  apos- 
tolorum  successor.  Mandatum  praedicandi  evangelium  in  toto 
terrarum  orbe  .  .  .  cum  apostolis  desiit."  [With  respect  to 
the  third,  there  was  no  successor  of  the  Apostles.  The  com- 
mand to  preach  the  Gospel  in  the  whole  world  ceases  with 
the  Apostles.]  There  are  lacking  now  the  "  vocatio  immediata," 
the  "  infallibilitas,"  the  "  6av/iarovpyia  miraculosa,"  the  "  prae- 
dicatio  ad  nullum  certum  locum  restricta,"  and  the  "visio 
Christi  in  carne."  Then  in  sees.  221-225  all  the  pleas  which 
might  be  adduced  in  favour  of  a  continuous  missionary  obliga- 
tion on  the  part  of  the  church  are,  with  scholastic  dogmaticism, 
refuted  as  absurd.1 

21.  It  is  obvious  that,  with  such  dogmatic  views  and  with 
views  of  history  so  prejudiced  by  dogma,  an  impartial  exposi- 
tion of  the  missionary  charge  was  as  impossible  as  was  its 
practical  execution.  And  up  to  the  eighteenth  century  these 
views  dominated  almost  all  orthodoxy.  Moreover,  they  had 
a  still  deeper  basis,  namely,  a  too  one-sided  legal  emphasis  on 
the  doctrines  of  grace,  which,  while  powerfully  admonishing 
to  the  acceptance  of  grace,  laid  too  little  stress  upon  the  duty 
of  serving  God,  which  is  involved  in  that  acceptance.  In 
connection  with  the  limitation  of  the  universality  of  the 
Divine  call,  and  with  the  satisfaction  created  by  the  assurance  of 
one's  own  standing  in  the  faith,  the  Eeformed,  and  especially 
the  Lutheran,  doctrine  of  grace  encouraged  a  certain  passive- 
ness  in  believers,  which  checked  energetic  action,  both  inward 
and  outward.  As  long  as  this  narrowness  and  one-sidedness 
remained  unchanged,  missionary  life  was  impossible.  And  the 
change  came  not  suddenly  but  gradually.     A  demand  arose 

1  These  refutations  are  specially  directed  against  Hadrian  Saravia,  as  has 
been  already  indicated,  p.  22. 


32  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

for  the  bettering  of  the  Christian  life,  which  in  large  measure 
consisted  in  a  dead  ecclesiasticism ;  and  in  connection  with 
this  reform  missionary  voices  were  lifted  up,  until  by  degrees 
the  doctrinal  confusion  which  repressed  missionary  life  was 
overcome. 

22.  The  first  who  came  forward  was  not  a  theologian,  but 
one  who  with  great  earnestness  set  before  the  Lutheran  church 
the  duty  of  obeying  the  missionary  command  by  sending  out 
messengers  of  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen.  This  missionary 
prophet  was  the  scion  of  a  noble  Austrian  family,  born  in 
Chemnitz  in  1621,  and  educated  in  Ulm,  Baron  Justinian  von 
Weltz.1  At  first,  indeed,  his  call  to  awake  was  only  the  voice 
of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness ;  but  the  missionary  idea,  which 
had  hitherto  scarcely  received  attention,  soon  set  missionary 
discussion  agoing,  and  although  the  controversy  had  for  a 
time  only  a  theoretical  result,  the  practical  results  followed 
afterwards. 

There  were  chiefly  two  ideas  which  animated  this  remark- 
able nobleman :  an  uplifting  of  Christian  life  and  a  practical 
manifestation  of  faith  by  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  the 
non-Christian  world.  The  former,  to  which  he  had  been 
moved,  next  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  probably  by  that  of  the 
Imitation  of  Christ  and  of  John  Arnd's  Wahres  Christentum 
[Real  Christianity],  was  for  him  the  presupposition  of  the 
latter.  That  is  a  point  of  great  significance,  that  for  him 
missions  and  living  Christianity  stand  in  innermost  connec- 
tion. Granted  that  his  treatise  on  the  life  of  solitude  (1633) 
is  not  quite  free  from  fanatical  sentiments,  still  it  is  per- 
meated by  sacred  earnestness.  Shortly  after  this  treatise, 
which  was  a  call  to  repentance  on  the  part  of  his  orthodox 
but  worldly-minded  contemporaries,  there  followed  A  Brief 
Account  as  to  how  a  New  Society  might  he  formed  amongst 
believing  Christians  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  in  which  he 
specially  summoned  German  students  to  missionary  work. 
The  very  title  of  this  pamphlet  is  again  significant,  because, 
although  not  yet  in  clear  contour,  it  connects  the  call  to 
missions  to  the  heathen  with  the  thought  of  a  voluntary 
association  for  the  work. 

From  1664  onwards  there  followed  his  three  principal 
treatises,  after  he  had  procured  a  kind  of  Opinion  from  many 
eminent  theologians  in  favour  of  his  project :  (I.)  A  Christian 
and  Loyal  Exhortation  to  all  faithful  Christians  of  the  Augs- 
burg Confession,  concerning  a  Special  Society,  through  which, 
with  the  help  of  God,  our  Evangelical  Religion  may  be  extended, 

1  Grossel,    Justinianus    von    Weltz,    der    Vorkdmpfer    der    faith.    Mission 
Leipzig,   1891. 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  33 

by  Justinian.  Put  into  print  for  notification — (1)  To  all 
evangelical  rulers;  (2)  to  barons  and  nobles;  (3)  to  doctors, 
professors,  and  preachers ;  (4)  to  students,  chiefly  of  theology ; 
(5)  to  students  also  of  law  and  medicine;  (6)  to  merchants 
and  all  hearts  "  that  love  Jesus."  There  followed  also  in  1664 
(II.)  An  Invitation  to  the  approaching  Great  Supper,  and  a 
Proposal  for  a  Christian  Society  of  Jesus  having  for  its  object 
the  Betterment  of  Christendom  and  the  Conversion  of  Heathen- 
dom, affectionately  set  forth  by  Justinian.  Along  with  Joh. 
George  Gichtel,  who  was  known  as  a  theosophist,  but  had 
been  won  to  his  project  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  Weltz  laid 
both  these  treatises  before  the  Corpus  Evangelicorum  at  the 
imperial  diet  at  Eatisbon  which  was  charged  with  caring  for 
the  interests  of  Protestants.  But  although  the  matter  was 
there  discussed,  the  memorial  presented  was  simply  laid  on 
the  table.  Concerning  this  the  indefatigable  man  made  bitter 
complaint  in  a  third  treatise,  this  time  published  in  Amster- 
dam, (III.)  A  repeated  loyal  and  earnest  Reminder  and  Admoni- 
tion to  undertake  the  Conversion  of  Unbelieving  Nations.  To  all 
Evangelical  Rulers,  Clergymen,  and  Jesus-loving  hearts,  set  forth 
by  Justinian. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  significance  of  these  treatises 
for  the  awakening  of  the  missionary  idea,  it  is  indispensable 
that  we  enter  a  little  into  their  contents. 

Leaving  out  of  account  the  earnest  complaints  and  accu- 
sations which  the  pious  baron  brings  against  a  lukewarm 
Christendom,  as  also  the  intense  questionings  and  exhortations 
which  he  addresses  to  it,  we  reproduce  only  the  grounds  upon 
which  he  urges  the  necessity  of  missionary  work,  the  refuta- 
tions by  which  he  shows  the  refusal  of  that  work  to  be 
untenable,  and  the  proposals  which  he  makes  for  its  practical 
furtherance. 

As  grounds  of  missions  he  adduces — (1)  The  will  of  God 
to  help  all  men  and  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth  (1  Tim.  ii.  4).  This  can  only  be  brought  to  pass  by  means 
of  regular  missionary  preaching  of  the  Gospel  (Eom.  x.  18). 
This  will  of  God  binds  us  to  obedience, — compare  the  mis- 
sionary commandment, — and  love  to  man  must  even  of  itself 
make  us  willing  to  obey.  (2)  The  example  of  godly  men,  who 
in  every  century  from  the  times  of  the  Apostles  onward,  with- 
out letting  themselves  be  terrified  by  pain,  peril,  or  persecution, 
have  extended  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among  non-Christians. 
(3)  The  petitions  in  the  liturgy  that  God  may  lead  the  erring 
to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  enlarge  His  kingdom.  If 
these  petitions  are  not  to  remain  mere  forms  of  words,  we 
must  send  out  able  men  to  disseminate  evangelical  truth. 
3 


34  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

(-4)  The  example  of  the  Papists,  who  founded  the  society  "  De 
propaganda  fide,"  must  rouse  us  to  emulation  that  we  may 
extend  the  true  doctrine  among  the  heathen.1 

To  these  leading  motives  Weltz  adds  a  convincing  refuta- 
tion of  the  seeming  reasons  which  orthodoxy  offered  as  valid 
against  practical  mission  work.  (1)  That  the  missionary  com- 
mandment was  for  the  Apostles  only.  Leaving  out  of  view 
that  this  conception  contradicts  the  whole  history  of  missions, 
he  rejoins  :  "  It  must  ever  remain  true,  what  Christ  said,  that 
His  words  shall  not  pass  away.  If  the  words  of  Christ  can- 
not pass  away,  why  then  do  we  believing  Christians  let  the 
words,  which  He  so  plainly  spake  before  His  ascension,  have 
no  worth  for  us  ?  Every  impartial  reader  who  loves  the 
truth  may  clearly  discern  that  this  command  of  Christ 
applies  to  the  church  of  to-day,  and  may  thus  conclude  that 
if  Christ  charged  the  Apostles  to  continue  to  teach  Christians 
all  that  He  had  commanded  them,  He  bade  them  also  teach 
Christians  that  in  every  age  they  should  send  out  able  men, 
and  say  to  them, '  Go,  teach  and  instruct  in  the  Christian  faith.' 
For  how  does  it  consist  that  Christ  should  have  bidden  the 
Apostles  teach  Christians  to  obey  all  His  behests,  except  the 
foregoing  words  'Go  ye  .  .  .'?"  (2)  That  the  Gospel  may 
not  again  be  preached  where  its  light  has  been  extinguished. 
"  The  disciples  of  the  Apostles  and  others  had  already  kindled 
the  light  of  the  Gospel  in  these  lands;  but  since  it  was 
extinguished  it  had  to  be  kindled  again  by  Severus,  Amandus, 
Arbopastus,  Gallus,  Columbanus,  Boniface,  and  others;  and 
that  is  answer  to  those  who  say  it  is  enough  that  the  Apostles 
once  converted  heathendom.  Love  constrains  to  redeliver  the 
captives."  (3)  That  without  a  call  no  preacher  has  a  right  to 
go  to  the  heathen,  and  that  preachers  who  have  been  called 
.are  designated  to  their  congregations.  "  Concerning  the  call 
to  this  work,  the  law  of  love  bears  not  only  on  the  clergy,  but 
upon  all  Christians,  nor  is  God  so  bound  as  that  He  may  not 
call  a  man  to  it  '  extraordinarie.'  Who  called  the  prophets  in 
Old  Testament  times  ?     Who  in  the  first  Christian  ages  sent 

1  In  the  Catholic  polemic  against  Protestantism,  the  reproach  that  the 
churches  of  the  Reformation  did  no  missionary  w<  ri  played  a  significant  part. 
That  reproach  might  well  have  led  them  to  recon  ider  their  negative  attitude 
inwards  missions  to  the  heathen  ;  instead  of  w  hich,  Protestant  theologians  con- 
stantlj  seeli  to  justify  that  attitude  on  the  unreasonable  grounds:  the  exten- 
sion of  the  church  over  all  nations  is  no  real  work  of  the  church  ;  only  the 
Apostles  had  a  proper  missionary  call  :  any,  however,  who  without  a  spei  id 
commandment  go  to  the  heathen  of  their  own  accord,  act  against  the  God- 
given  call  which  appoints  teachers  !•>  their  congregations.  Weltz  is  the  firsl 
Protestant  who  acknowledges  the  justice  of  the  Catholic  reproach,  and,  I 
he  feels  it  painfully,  he  makes  of  it  an  argument  for  the  undertaking  at  last  of 
missionary  work  on  the  part  of  Protestantism. 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  35 

so  many  sons  of  kings  and  princes  as  evangelists  among  the 
heathen  ?  Did  not  Ambrose,  governor  of  Milan,  become  bishop 
there  ?  Many  such  might  be  cited  from  the  history  of  the 
church."  (4)  That  Christianity  should  be  raised  to  a  better 
position  at  home,  and  that  the  Gospel  shoitld  only  then  be 
preached  to  the  heathen.  "  That  would  take  far  too  long,  and 
meanwhile  thousands  of  the  poor  heathen  would  die  in  their 
unbelief  and  sin.  Instant  help  is  needed.  The  one  duty  must 
be  done,  and  the  other  not  left  undone,  especially  as  so  many 
students  of  theology  are  roaming  about  idle,  waiting  for 
office." 

The  proposals  which  Weltz  made  deal  as  much  with  the 
uplifting  of  the  Christian  life  as  with  the  extension  of  the 
Gospel.  We  only  sketch  the  latter  shortly.  They  bear  in 
part  the  stamp  of  generality,  and  also  of  uncompleteness  and 
impracticableness,  a  defect  which,  besides  the  peculiar  diffi- 
culties of  the  matter,  had  for  its  reason  that  Weltz  did  not 
wish  to  discover  his  projects  to  the  Papists.1  (1)  A  society 
shall  be  founded,  the  aim  of  which  shall  be  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  Christ  both  within  and  beyond  Christendom. 
This  society  shall  embrace  confessors  and  followers  of  Jesus 
of  all  ranks,  but  especially  such  as  are  educated,  and  shall 
organise  itself  into  '  promotores,'  '  conservatores,'  and  'mis- 
sionarii.'  The  'promotores'  shall,  from  their  social  position, 
care  chiefly  for  the  collection  of  the  necessary  funds ;  the 
'conservatores'  shall  partly  conduct  the  correspondence  and 
in  every  way  represent  and  commend  the  society,  and  partly 
as  teachers  of  languages  train  those  who  are  to  be  sent  out ; 
the  '  missionarii '  shall  go  to  the  heathen.  As  such  Weltz 
had  principally  students  in  view,  but  also  young  men  of  good 
parts  who  should  be  specially  prepared  for  their  calling  by 
professors  in  a  "  Collegium  de  propaganda  fide."  (2)  As  for 
actual  missionary  work,  Weltz  imposes  upon  the  '  missionarii,' 
besides  a  thorough  study  of  the  country,  people,  religion,  and 
language,  the  duty,  in  particular,  of  literary  labour  (trans- 
lations), and  of  the  gathering  of  congregations,  and  also  the 
sending  home  of  reports.  And  (3)  as  mission  fields  he  pro- 
poses the  Danish,  Swedish,  and  Dutch  colonies,  and  this 
probably  because,  like  all  his  contemporaries,  he  ascribes 
before  all  to  the  civil  powers  that  govern  heathen  nations  a 
missionary  duty  in  pre-eminent  degree. 

As  characteristic  of  the  urgency  with  which  Weltz  presses 
his  contemporaries  to  set  at  last  to  missionary  work,  we 
add  the  somewhat  sharp  conclusion  of  his  third  treatise  on 

1  In  a  private  letter  to  Duke  Ernest  the  Pious  and  to  Havemann,  Weltz 
takes  up  this  point  of  view. 


$6  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

missions :  "  I  set  you  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Jesus  Christ, 
Who,  righteous  judge  as  He  is,  heeds  not  though  ye  be  called 
high  and  honoured  court  preachers,  venerable  superintendents, 
learned  professors ;  before  this  strict  tribunal  ye  shall  give  me 
answer  to  these  questions  of  conscience.  I  ask,  who  gave  you 
authority  to  misinterpret  the  commandment  of  Christ  in  Matt. 
xxviii.  ?  I  ask,  is  it  right  that  you  annul  the  apostolic  office 
which  Christ  instituted,  and  without  which  the  body  of  Christ 
is  incomplete,  1  Cor.  xii. ;  Eph.  iv.  ?  I  ask  you,  from  Matt,  v., 
why  you  do  not  show  yourselves  as  lights  of  the  world,  and  do 
not  let  your  light  shine  that  Turks  and  heathens  may  see  your 
good  works,  and  also  that  young  students  may  appear  as  lights 
of  the  world  ?  I  ask  you,  from  1  Pet.  ii.  12,  if  ye  are  following 
and  are  exhorting  other  young  people  to  follow  the  command- 
ment of  Peter,  that  you  should  have  a  seemly  behaviour  among 
the  Gentiles,  that  they  may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify 
God  ?  I  ask  you,  from  1  Thess.  i.  8,  if  ye  have  brought  it  about 
that  the  Word  of  God  has  sounded  farther  than  in  Germany 
and  Sweden  and  Denmark,  as  Paul  so  highly  commends  his 
Thessalonians  that  their  faith  toward  God  is  gone  forth  from 
them  into  all  places  ?  I  ask,  are  you  prepared  to  answer  for  it 
that  you  have  taken  counsel  neither  with  your  princes  nor 
with  your  congregations,  nor  even  been  willing  to  take  counsel, 
as  to  how  the  Gospel  shall  be  preached  to  unbelievers,  as  did 
the  early  church,  so  setting  you  a  fine  example  ?  I  ask  you 
clergy  if  ye  are  not  dealing  contrary  to  conscience  when  ye 
pray  publicly  in  the  congregation  that  the  holy  name  of  God 
may  become  ever  more  widely  known  and  acknowledged  by 
other  nations,  while  yet  ye  yourselves  do  not  your  part  towards 
this  end  ?  Tell  me,  ye  who  are  learned,  if  the  Papists  do  you 
wrong  when  they  charge  you  with  doing  no  works  of  Christian 
love,  since  ye  seek  not  to  convert  the  heathen  ?  Say,  in  face  of 
the  impartial  verdict  of  God,  ye  scholars,  who  let  yourselves  be 
also  called  spiritual,  is  it  right  in  no  way  to  have  put  a  matter 
to  the  proof  and  yet  to  say  it  is  not  practicable  ?  Wherefore 
do  ye  persuade  princes  and  lords  that  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  is  not  practicable  in  this  age,  while  you  have  neither 
yet  tried  it  nor  suffered  it  to  be  tried  in  any  land  ?  Say, 
ye  hypocrites,  where  do  ye  find  in  the  Bible  the  word  '  im- 
practicable '  ?  Did  the  Disciples  and  Apostles,  when  Christ 
sent  them  forth,  answer  Him  thus,  '  Master,  this  work  is  not 
practicable  in  this  age '  ?  Had  not  the  Disciples  to  preach 
even  to  those  who  were  not  willing  to  receive  them  ?  Oh, 
what  a  changed  world  !  Woe  to  you  clergy  who  act  contrary  to 
the  Word  of  Crod,  and  to  your  own  conscience !  Woe  to  you, 
and  yet  again  woe,  that  ye  are  not  willing  to  help  at  all  that 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  37 

the  kingdom  of  God  may  be  spread  abroad  in  the  world !  I 
wish  not  to  condemn  you,  but  I  thus  earnestly  entreat  you 
that  in  the  future  ye  do  more  for  the  work  of  converting 
unbelieving  nations  than  ye  have  done  hitherto.  .  .  .  Ye  clergy, 
if  from  pride,  conceit  of  wisdom,  contempt  of  all  earnest  counsel, 
ye  will  show  no  compassion  towards  the  heathen,  if,  I  say,  you 
are  not  disposed  because  of  your  voluptuous  life  to  help  the 
advance  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  to  repent,  then  upon 
you  and  your  children  and  your  children's  children  will 
fall  all  the  curses  which  are  written  in  the  109th  Psalm." 

Even  this  strenuous  appeal  had  no  practical  result.  In 
disappointment  the  Baron  betook  himself  to  Holland,  to  follow 
up  his  missionary  teaching  at  least  with  his  own  missionary 
action.  After  receiving  consecration  as  an  apostle  to  the 
heathen  at  the  hands  of  the  fanatic  Breckling,  in  Zwoll,  having 
laid  aside  his  baronial  title,  and  having  deposited  in  Eatisbon 
a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  furtherance  of  his  projects,  he 
went  to  Dutch  Guiana,  where  he  soon  found  a  lonely  grave. 
If  the  zeal  of  this  first  advocate  of  missions  within  the 
Lutheran  church  may  have  had  in  it  something  offensive  to 
the  orthodox  clergy,  yet  we  must  not,  with  Plitt,  call  him 
a  "  missionary  fanatic."  That  is  a  gross  injustice,  only  to  be 
accounted  for  by  the  prejudice  which  seeks  to  excuse  the 
hostility  to  missions  displayed  by  the  old  dogmatic  theologians. 
The  indubitable  sincerity  of  his  purposes,  the  noble  enthusiasm 
of  his  heart,  the  sacrifice  of  his  position,  his  fortune,  his  life  for 
the  yet  unrecognised  duty  of  the  church  to  missions,  insure  for 
him  an  abiding  place  of  honour  in  missionary  history. 

23.  How  little  the  Lutheran  clergy  understood  this  duty, 
is  manifest  from  the  detailed  and  sharp  refutation  of  the 
missionary  projects  of  Weltz  by  the  otherwise  excellent 
"superintendent"  of  Eatisbon,  Joh.  Heinrich  Ursinus,  who 
was  applied  to  by  the  Corpus  Evangelicorum  at  Eatisbon  foi 
an  Opinion  on  these.  This  critic  of  missions  does  indeed  in 
his  thesis  recognise  a  relative  missionary  duty  of  the  church, 
and  even  develops  many  sound  views  in  reference  to  the 
opportunity  for  discharging  it ;  but  he  ultimately  rejects  the 
appeal  of  Justinian  as  a  chimera,  charges  him  with  self- 
conceit  and  with  blasphemy  against  Moses  and  Aaron,  re- 
proaches him  with  a  piety  of  his  own  devising,  a  deceiving 
of  the  people,  a  spirit  akin  to  Mlinzer's 1  and  the  Quakers', 
and  warns  against  the  proposed  "  Society  of  Jesus "  in  the 
words,  "  Preserve  us  from  it,  dear  Lord  God." 

1  [The  leader  of  the  peasants  in  Middle  Germany  (1725),  who  taught  extra- 
vagant views  regarding  the  inner  light  and  the  manner  of  setting  up  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth. — Ep.] 


38  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  rejoinder  of  Ursinus  bears  the  title,  A  sincere,  faith- 
ful, and  earnest  Admonition  to  Justinian,  respecting  Ids  pro- 
rposals  for  the  Conversion  of  Heathendom  and  the  Betterment  of 
Christendom.  Its  contents  are  somewhat  as  follows : — (1) 
For  Christians  there  lie  in  the  way  of  the  conversion  of  the 
heathen  such  high  requirements  and  such  great  obstacles,  that 
people  will  with  difficulty  be  found  who  shall  rise  to  them. 
(2)  The  heathen  are  in  a  state  which  gives  no  prospect  of 
their  conversion.  What  Ursinus  says  on  this  point  is  too 
characteristic  not  to  be  repeated  in  his  own  words :  "  The 
heathen  ought  not  to  be  positive  savages,  who  have  absolutely 
nothing  human  about  them.  Secondly,  they  ought  not  to  be 
fierce  and  tyrannical,  suffering  no  stranger  to  dwell  among 
them.  Thirdly,  they  ought  not  to  be  obstinate  blasphemers, 
persecutors,  destroyers  of  the  Christian  religion,  which  through 
odious  ingratitude  their  ancestors  lost.  .  .  .  The  holy  things  of 
God  are  not  to  be  cast  before  such  dogs  and  swine."  (3)  "  It  is 
not  the  will  of  God  that  to  the  heathen  of  this  age  the  way  of 
salvation  through  Christ  shall  be  shown  otherwise  than  by  the 
ordinary  and  special  means  of  providence,  as  hitherto  He  has 
willed  to  lead  all  in  general  and  some  particularly,  according  to 
the  measure  of  His  grace,  to  the  knowledge  of  His  salvation. 
For,  firstly,  there  is  no  nation  under  heaven  so  utterly  savage 
as  that  God  has  not  left  to  it,  along  with  reason,  a  portion  of 
His  law,  by  which  the  heart  may  be  kindled  to  seek  after  God, 
as  even  also  heaven  and  earth  with  their  witness,  and  then 
the  manifold  chastisements  of  God  and  death  itself,  are  an 
admonition  to  all  to  this  end.  They  who  heed  not  such  first 
discipline  of  grace  are  incapable  of  any  other ;  they  become 
ever  more  savage,  and  can  ascribe  their  condemnation  to  none 
but  themselves.  .  .  .  Have  they  not  heard  ?  Can  they  not  yet 
hear  ?  Therefore  the  righteous  anger  of  God  lies  heavy  upon 
them,  because  they  refuse  the  truth  in  unrighteousness.  God 
is  not  bound  to  help  them  elsewise  than  He  has  been  hitherto 
willing  to  help ;  nor  even  to  this  is  He  bound.  Gracious  as 
He  is,  He  can  be  angry,  to  show  to  the  whole  world  that  we 
must  keep  what  we  hear."  As  a  second  argument,  it  is  urged 
that  all  kinds  of  Christians  live  among  the  heathen,  whose  duty 
it  certainly  is  to  manifest  their  Christianity  by  word  and 
behaviour.  Where  there  are  Christians,  missions  are  super- 
fluous, and  where  there  are  no  Christians  they  are  hopeless,  as, 
e.g.  in  Japan,  China,  and  Africa.  When,  in  face  of  great 
dangers,  Justinian  makes  his  appeal  to  trust  in  God,  that  is  to 
tempt  God.  The  God-given  call  is  :  Remain  at  home.  "  But  if 
the  matter  is  of  God,  God  will  Himself  further  His  cause  and 
show  ways  and  means  so  that  the  heathen  shall  '  lly  as  doves 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  39 

to  the  windows.' "  Then  the  disputant  conies  to  speak  once 
more  on  the  question  whether  God  is  bound  to  resort  to  other 
means  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  denies  this 
(under  the  assertion  of  the  grounds  already  mentioned)  except 
with  respect  to  the  potentates  of  Christendom  to  whom  God 
has  furnished  road  and  bridge  to  the  heathen,  and  who  may 
work  here  and  there  among  them  through  theologians. 
"  Have  we  not  Jews  and  heathen  amongst  ourselves  ?  Is  it  not 
far  better  to  preach  the  new  doctrine  of  Christ  to  them  than 
to  any  others  under  heaven  ? "  The  heathen  are  under  the 
wrath  of  God,  and  it  is  enough  that  Christians  living  amongst 
them  shall  preach  to  them.  "  But  that  any  one  reasonable 
Christian  is  bound  by  the  command  of  God  to  go  off  with  you 
at  your  summons  :  '  Let  us  go  among  the  heathen/  to  abandon 
his  own  calling,  of  which  he  is  certain,  or  to  employ  as  helps 
and  agents  visionaries  who,  without  any  Christian  intelligence, 
without  any  means  and  gifts,  may  offer  themselves  for  this, 
.  .  .  that  is  what  you  teach  and  prove !  ...  If  any  one  is 
under  obligation,  it  is  you,  because,  as  you  conceive,  you 
have  a  special  call  and  a  Divine  impulse  thereto,  which  yet 
not  a  single  true  Christian  besides  has  or  can  feel."  We 
pass  over  the  manner  in  which  Ursinus  sets  aside  also  the 
proposals  of  Weltz  for  the  betterment  of  Christianity  at 
home. 

24.  Notwithstanding  this  rejection  of  the  missionary  pro- 
jects of  Weltz,  a  reaction  took  place  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  this  through  theologians  who  at  the 
same  time  exerted  a  reforming  influence  on  the  life  of  the 
church.  Whether  these  men  were  moved  by  Weltz  or  from 
Holland,  or  whether  they  were  led  to  missionary  ideas  through 
their  own  enlightenment,  cannot  be  determined  to  this  day. 
In  some  cases  the  influence  of  Weltz  is  unmistakable.  Perhaps 
that  influence  is  traceable  even  in  Spener.  From  out  of  the 
increasing  chorus  of  these  voices  we  content  ourselves  with 
citing  only  the  most  influential.  Spener,  the  "Father  of  Pietism," 
preaches  thus  on  the  feast  of  the  Ascension : — 

"  We  are  thus  reminded  {i.e.  by  the  words  "  they  went  forth 
and  preached  everywhere  ")  that  although  every  preacher  is  not 
bound  to  go  everywhere  and  preach,  since  God  has  knit  each  of 
us  to  his  congregation,  which  he  cannot  leave  without  a 
further  command,  the  obligation  nevertheless  rests  on  the 
whole  church  to  have  care  as  to  how  the  Gospel  shall  be 
preached  in  the  whole  world,  and  thus  may  continually  be 
carried  to  other  places  whither  it  has  not  yet  come,  and  that  to 
this  end  no  diligence,  labour,  or  cost  be  spared  in  such  work  on 
behalf  of  the  poor  heathen  and  unbelievers.     That  almost  no 


40  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

thought  even  has  been  given  to  this,  and  that  great  potentates, 
as  the  earthly  heads  of  the  church,  do  so  very  little  therein,  is 
not  to  be  excused,  but  is  evidence  how  little  the  honour  of 
Christ  and  of  humanity  concerns  us ;  yea,  I  fear  that  in  that 
day  such  unbelievers  will  cry  for  vengeance  upon  Christians 
who  have  been  so  utterly  without  care  for  their  salvation. 
Yea,  herein  the  zeal  of  the  Papists  puts  us  to  shame,  for  they 
by  their  missionaries  and  envoys  have  more  earnestness  for  the 
spread  among  the  heathen  of  their  religion,  mixed  with  so  much 
error,  than  we  manifest  for  our  pure  evangelical  truth." 

And  Scriver  writes  this  in  his  Seelenschatz :  "  When 
the  soul  reads  that  nineteen  parts  of  the  known  world  are 
occupied  by  heathens,  six  by  Mohammedans,  and  only  five 
by  Christians,  its  heart  heaves,  tears  start  to  its  eyes,  and  it 
longs  that  it  had  a  voice  that  might  sound  through  all  parts 
of  the  world,  to  preach  everywhere  the  Three-One  God  and 
Jesus  Christ  the  crucified,  and  to  fill  all  with  His  saving 
knowledge.  And  if  it  can  do  no  more,  it  prays  with  great 
earnestness  and  devoutness  for  unbelieving  Jews,  Turks,  and 
Tartars,  that  God  will  have  compassion  upon  them.  It  pleads 
with  prayers  and  entreatiugs  that  in  His  great  love  the  Lord 
will  raise  up  teachers  and  apostles,  endowed  with  the  Spirit, 
with  power,  and  with  gifts,  and  send  them  to  the  unbelieving. 
Ye  boast  you  all  of  faith,  but  where  is  the  first-born  daughter 
of  faith — ardent  love  ?  Look  ye,  there  are  yet  many  unbelieving 
in  the  world  .  .  .  alienated  from  the  life  of  God,  whose  under- 
standing is  darkened  through  the  ignorance  and  blindness  of 
their  heart.  I  speak  of  heathens,  Jews,  Turks,  Tartars,  and 
other  barbarous  nations.  How  do  ye  think  of  them  ?  With 
what  ears  and  hearts  are  ye  wont  to  hear  of  them  ?  Does  it 
set  your  spirit  on  fire  when  ye  needs  must  learn  that  there  are 
yet  many  thousand  times  thousand  souls  on  earth  who  know 
not,  nor  honour  and  worship,  your  and  their  Eedeemer  ?  Do 
ye  cry  daily  to  God  that  He  will  at  length  in  His  grace  have 
compassion  upon  them,  and  bring  them  out  of  darkness  to 
light,  out  of  death  to  life  ?  Do  your  hearts  yearn  that  ye 
yourselves,  if  it  were  possible,  might  preach  Christ  to  such 
blinded  people,  even  if  for  that  ye  should  have  to  suffer 
poverty,  hardship,  ignominy,  tribulation,  and  death  ?  Do  ye 
pray  God  also  that  He  will  raise  up  leal,  spiritual,  zealous  men 
and  send  them  as  apostles  to  such  nations  ?  Oh,  how  few  there 
be  who  ponder  this  and  grieve  over  such  people !  Christians 
there  have  been,  alas !  eager  enough  to  visit  unbelieving  lands 
in  the  way  of  travel,  trade,  and  commerce,  and  bring  back 
their  gold  and  silver  and  other  treasures;  but  how  few  be- 
think them  that  the  riches  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  might  be 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  4 1 

imparted  to  them  in  return.  Some  with  their  insatiable  greed 
and  thirst  for  gold,  with  their  cruelty  and  other  iniquities,  have 
put  a  scandal  and  a  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  the  poor 
people,  and  have  scared  them  from  Christ ;  some  have  dis- 
carded the  Christian  name  while  in  these  lands,  that  they 
might  have  freedom  to  trade  and  traffic  there  and  seek  their 
gain.  .  .  .  Now,  ye  Christian  souls,  heed  these  things  more 
diligently  for  the  future,  and  pray  with  more  thoughtfulness 
the  words  of  the  Litany :  '  Tread  Satan  under  our  feet,  send 
forth  true  labourers  into  Thy  harvest,  give  Thy  Spirit  and 
power  to  Thy  Word,  have  mercy  on  all  men.  Hear  us,  dear 
Lord  God.' " 

These  laments,  exhortations,  and  longings  were  followed  by  a 
practical  project,  namely,  that  of  the  founding  of  a  "  Collegium 
de  propaganda  fide,"  which  subsequently  dwindled  to  a  "  Col- 
legium orientale  "  for  training  of  teachers  for  Jews  and  Turks. 
The  initiators  of  this  project,  which  was  approved  in  many 
quarters,  even  by  the  Theological  Faculty  of  Greifswald, 
were  two  professors  of  Kiel,  Raue  and  Wasmuth.  But  when 
all  was  ready  for  bringing  the  enterprise  into  life,  no  helping 
hands  were  found,  and  so  it  died.1 

25.  Besides  the  theologians,  a  philosopher  of  world-wide 
fame,  Baron  von  Leibnitz,  came  forward  at  the  close  of  the 
century  as  a  vigorous  advocate  of  missions.2  It  was  not  so 
much  his  travels  in  Holland  and  England,  or  his  studies  in 
languages  and  geography,  still  less  his  philosophical  theories, 
which  led  Leibnitz  to  missionary  ideas.  Eather,  it  was  his 
intercourse  with  the  Jesuit  missionaries  to  China,  dating  from 
his  stay  in  Rome,  but  which  seems  later  to  have  been  broken 
off.  This  intercourse  turned  his  attention  to  China  as  a  field 
for  missionaries  thoroughly  trained  in  Lutheran  theology  and 
in  languages.  As  a  connecting  road  he  fixed  his  eye  on  Russia, 
upon  whose  emperor,  Peter  the  Great,  he  set  large  hopes,  and 
with  whose  advisers  he  had  many  negotiations.  With  refer- 
ence to  methods  of  missionary  work,  and  especially  to  the 
character  of  missionary  preaching,  he  offers  some  suggestions 
in  the  preface  to  the  little  work  entitled  JVovissima  Sinica, 
a  collection  of  letters  from  the  Catholic  mission,  in  which  he 
speaks  chiefly  of  a  true  and  a  false  accommodation.  Leibnitz 
urged  his  plan  with  great  earnestness,  particularly  on  the 
great  ones  of  the  earth.  He  had  it  embodied  also  in  a  more 
general  form  in  the  regulations  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of 
Sciences,  founded  in  July  1700,  in  the  charter  of  whose  consti- 

1  Similar  Eastern  projects  were  at  that  time  cherished  also  in  other  circles. 
Kramer,  Aug.  Herm.  Francke,  Halle,  1880. 

-  Ally.  Miss.  Zeitschrift,  1905,  257.     Leibnitz's  Stellung  zur  Heideumission. 


42  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tution  it  stands :  "  Since  experience  shows  that  true  faith,  Chris- 
tian morals,  and  real  Christianity  cannot  be  better  advanced, 
alike  within  Christendom  and  among  distant  unconverted  na- 
tions, next  to  the  blessing  of  God,  along  the  line  of  ordinary 
means,  than  by  men  such  as,  besides  being  of  pure  and  blameless 
life,  are  equipped  with  understanding  and  knowledge,  we  will 
that  our  Society  of  Sciences  shall  charge  itself  with  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  true  faith  and  Christian  virtue  under  our 
protection  (i.e.  the  protection  of  the  Elector)  ;  yet  it  is  permitted 
to  the  society  to  receive  and  employ  people  of  other  nations 
and  religions,  though  always  with  our  previous  knowledge  and 
gracious  approval." 

The  brilliant  project  of  Leibnitz,  it  is  true,  never  even  began 
to  be  carried  into  effect.  Yet  the  impulse  emanating  from 
the  philosopher  did  not  fall  into  altogether  barren  soil,  for 
it  helped  forward  on  its  way  the  missionary  movement  of 
Pietism  which  was  just  originating.  It  sounds  almost  as  a 
prophecy  when  Leibnitz  in  his  second  memorial,  with  reference 
to  the  founding  of  the  above-named  Academy,  thus  expresses 
himself : — 

"  Yea,  to  say  still  more,  who  knows  whether  God  did  not 
permit  the  pietistic  controversies,  otherwise  almost  offensive, 
amongst  the  Evangelicals  for  the  very  purpose  that  devout  and 
right-minded  clergymen,  who  had  fouud  protection  under  the 
grace  of  the  Elector,  might  be  at  hand  for  the  better  furthering 
of  this  supreme  work  '  fidei  purioris  propagandae,'  and  for  com- 
bining the  reception  of  true  Christianity  amongst  ourselves 
and  beyond  with  the  growth  of  real  learning,  and  the  increase 
of  the  general  good  as  '  funiculo  triplici  indissolubili '  ? " 

The  Novissima  Sinica  came  into  the  hands  of  Aug.  Hermann 
Francke,  who  addressed  to  Leibnitz  a  letter  regarding  it.  That 
letter,  indeed,  is  not  extant,  but  we  have  the  interesting  answer 
which  the  latter  gave,  and  which  is  a  fine  testimony  to  the 
genuine  interest  in  missions  which  animated  the  philosopher. 
Although  there  was  never  any  active  intercourse  between  the 
two  men,  yet  it  admits  of  no  doubt  that  the  missionary  ideas  of 
Leibnitz  bore  fruit  in  Francke,  and  so  helped  towards  the  first 
missionary  activity  of  Protestant  Germany.  This,  however, 
belongs  to  the  following  chapter.  Meantime  we  must  take  a 
glance  at  the  fields  of  Protestantism  outside  of  Germany. 

Section  II.  Outside  of  Germany 

26.  We  begin  with  Holland.  From  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  onwards,  the  distribution  of  posse;  -ions  be- 
yond the  sea  underwent  a  change,  in  that  Protestant  powers  first 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  43 

contested,  then  divided,  and  at  last  far  surpassed  the  dominion 
on  the  sea  which  had  hitherto  been  mainly  in  the  hands  of  the 
Catholic  powers  of  Portugal  and  Spain.  The  heathen  world 
beyond  the  sea  was  thus  brought  directly  within  the  purview 
of  the  Protestant  nations  also ;  and  where  that  was  the  case 
religious  life  received  a  missionary  impulse  sooner  than  in 
Germany.  The  first  of  the  Protestant  colonial  powers  to 
undertake  actual  mission  work  was  the  Netherlands,  which 
after  their  heroic  emancipation  from  the  Spanish  yoke  became 
a  rising  political  and  commercial  power,  drove  the  Portuguese 
from  most  of  their  East  Indian  possessions,  and  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time  founded  a  considerable  colonial  empire 
in  the  Moluccas,  Ceylon,  Formosa,  and  the  great  Malaysian 
islands.  True,  there  was  lacking  here  also  a  living  missionary 
spirit  which  would  have  inspired  the  Evangelical  congregations 
with  missionary  zeal  from  inward  religious  motives ;  it  was 
lacking,  because  the  duty  of  missions  was  conceived  as  sub- 
stantially an  obligation  of  the  colonial  government,  which  lay 
in  the  hands  of  the  East  Indian  Handelsmaatschappij,  founded 
in  1602.  This  commercial  society,  known  under  the  name  of 
the  East  India  Company,  was  distinctly  bound  by  its  state 
charter  to  care  for  the  planting  of  the  church  and  the  con- 
version of  the  heathen  in  the  newly  won  possessions.  Pro- 
bably this  was  due  to  the  remembrance  of  the  converting- 
activity  of  the  Portuguese  during  their  earlier  dominion  in  the 
colonies,  and  perhaps  its  aim,  in  the  first  instance,  was  the 
winning  of  the  outwardly  Eomanised  natives  for  Protestant- 
ism. At  the  same  time,  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  the  church 
power  of  civil  rulers  materially  influenced  such  a  conception 
of  missions.1 

Missionary  work  was  undertaken  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany before  any  Dutch  missionary  writing  appeared.  The 
writing  of  Saravia,  already  mentioned,  cannot  be  shown  to 
have  had  any  influence  on  the  company,  nor  even  upon  the 
missionary  literature  which  appeared  in  Holland  after  the 
beginning  of  actual  mission  work,  and  which  did  much  to  quicken 
it.  This  literature  was  initiated  by  a  writing  by  Justus  Heurnius, 
who  afterwards  himself  became  a  missionary,  dedicated  to  the 
General  States  and  Prince  Maurice,  and  entitled  De  legatione 
evangelica  ad  Indos  capessenda  admonitio.  It  was  quickly 
followed  by  other  writings  from  Dankaerts  (1621),  Teelinck 
(1622),  Udemann  (1638),  to  whom,  as  witnesses  for  missions, 

1  The  knowledge  of  the  old  Dutch  mission  lay  long  in  obscurity,  not  only 
in  Germany,  but  even  in  the  Netherlands.  In  recent  years,  however,  the 
sources  have  been  discovered,  and  many  different  works  based  on  these  sources 
have  appeared,  which  now  render  an  authentic  statement  possible, 


44  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

there  are  to  be  added  at  a  later  date  Hoornbeek  (1665)  and 
Lodenstein,  who  is  known  as  a  poet. 

27.  From  the  beginning,  as  has  been  said,  the  East  India 
Company  was  looked  upon  as  the  organ  of  the  missionary 
enterprise.  Not  only  did  it  defray  all  costs,  but  the  mission- 
aries entered  into  its  service  as  preachers,  and  had  in  the  first 
instance  to  undertake  the  spiritual  care  of  the  European 
colonial  officials,  who  were  often  utterly  abandoned.  There 
were  no  special  missionaries ;  the  colonial  clergy  were  the 
missionaries.  At  the  outset  their  position  was  tolerably  free, 
but  more  and  more  it  became  only  a  "  wheel  in  the  machinery 
of  the  colonial  government,"  a  position  which  entailed  great 
hindrances  and  difficulties.  In  order  to  procure  preachers,  the 
Company,  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  of  its  directors, 
entered  into  negotiations,  through  its  chambers  of  commerce, 
with  the  "  classes  "  (the  local  church  courts)  and  the  synods, 
which  nominated  suitable  men  and  ordained  them  for  the  East 
Indian  church  and  missionary  service.  But  when  the  lack  of 
such  men  became  marked,  there  was  instituted  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Leyden,  in  1622,  on  the  explicit  recommendation  of 
the  Theological  Faculty,  and  according  to  an  admirable  plan 
projected  by  it,  a  "  Seminarium  Indicum,"  which  under  the 
superintendence  of  Professor  Walaus  furnished  a  succession  of 
capable  preachers  and  missionaries.  After  twelve  years,  how- 
ever, it  was  discontinued,  not  indeed  merely  because  it  cost 
the  East  India  Company  too  much,  but  because  its  pupils 
addressed  themselves  more  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen 
than  suited  the  colonial  programme  of  the  Company.  The 
"  classes,"  indeed,  repeatedly  urged  the  reopening  of  the  semin- 
ary ;  the  representatives  of  the  church  generally,  especially 
the  "  deputati  ad  res  Indicas,"  were  never  weary  of  bringing 
their  desires  and  proposals  anent  energetic  and  better  mis- 
sionary work  before  the  all-powerful  "  Seventeen  Gentlemen." 
Yet  characteristically  it  did  not  enter  the  mind  of  the  church 
to  support  a  mission  seminary  out  of  its  own  resources,  not 
even  when  the  complaint  of  the  lack  of  preachers,  specially  of 
preachers  having  capacity  for  missionary  service,  became  more 
vehement.  It  is  true  that  a  number  of  excellent  clergymen, 
full  of  earnest  faith,  gave  themselves  in  permanent  self-sacrifice 
to  the  work  of  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  as  e.g.  Dankaerts, 
Heurnius,  Candidius,  Junius,  Hambroek,  Baldaus,  Leydekker, 
Vertrecht,  Valentijn ;  but  the  majority  had  little  enthusiasm 
for  the  missionary  calling,  and  on  the  expiry  of  their  five 
years'  period  of  service,  for  which  they  had  contracted,  they 
returned  home.  An  experience  which  must  remain  for  all 
time  an  earnest  warning  against  colonial  government  missions  I 


THE  AGE  OF  ORTHODOXY  45 

28.  In  other  respects  also  it  is  no  refreshing  picture  which 
this  old  Dutch  colonial  mission  presents.  In  the  beginning, 
indeed,  laudable  evangelical  principles  ruled  the  missionary 
methods :  preaching,  and  that  in  the  language  of  the  natives ; 
Bible-translation,  and  the  education  of  native  helpers  in  school 
and  church.  But  unhappily  only  in  exceptional  cases  did  the 
work  proceed  on  these  principles.  At  the  best  the  preachers 
mastered  the  language  of  the  Malays,  but  the  motley  popula- 
tion of  the  wide  Archipelago  has  many  languages,  and  only 
in  the  case  of  Ceylon  and  Formosa  can  it  be  pretended 
that  they  attempted  to  learn  other  languages.  No  doubt 
there  was  a  Malay  and  also  a  Singhalese  translation  of  the 
Bible ;  so  also  in  Formosa,  some  books  of  the  New  Testament 
were  translated  into  the  language  of  the  country ;  it  may  be 
questioned,  however,  if  these  translations  were  much  circulated 
among  the  people.  It  is  also  true  that  by  and  by  three  educa- 
tional institutions  were  founded  for  native  helpers,  but  in  part 
they  did  not  last  long,  in  part  their  plan  of  teaching  was 
unpractical,  in  part  they  did  not  suffice  for  the  need.  Most 
of  the  native  helpers  were  not  equal  to  their  calling.  To  this 
has  to  be  added,  that — with  honourable  exceptions — the  mis- 
sion work  itself  became  very  superficial,  and,  what  is  still 
worse,  unspiritual,  following  the  Eomish  method  of  introducing 
the  masses  into  the  church.  The  superficialness  was  due  to 
the  number  of  preachers  not  being  equal  to  the  magnitude  of 
the  mission  field,  while  they  crowded  together  in  Batavia, 
and  only  from  time  to  time,  sometimes  scarcely  once  in  ten  to 
fifteen  years,  visited  those  congregations  which  were  distant 
and  difficult  of  access,  as  e.g.  those  in  the  Moluccas.  The 
example  of  Portuguese  sham-Christianisation  worked  infec- 
tiously. Thousands  were  received  into  the  church  by  baptism 
without  heed  to  inward  preparedness,  or  without  imparting 
lengthened  instruction.  Use  was  made  of  all  kinds  of  pressure, 
now  by  inducements  of  outward  advantage,  again  by  direct 
resort  to  force,  by  punishments,  and  by  prohibiting  heathen 
customs.  When  in  1674  one  of  the  kings  of  Timor  declared 
that  he  and  his  people  were  willing  to  become  Christians,  the 
preacher  Bhymdyk  was  sent  "  to  see  to  what  was  necessary," 
i.e.  to  baptize  the  whole  people  off-hand.  In  the  state  of 
Amboina  the  chiefs  simply  received  a  command  to  have  always 
at  the  time  of  the  preacher's  visit  a  number  of  natives  ready 
for  baptism,  and  since  for  every  one  who  was  baptized  the 
preacher  received  a  sum  per  head  (discipelgeld),  it  will  be 
easily  understood  that  he  was  not  particular,  if,  as  often 
happened,  he  himself  was  not  a  man  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  faith.    Even  against  the  punishment  inflicted  on  parents 


46  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

if  they  did  not  bring  their  children  for  baptism,  or  on  Moham- 
medans if  they  used  circumcision,  no  protest  was  raised  on 
the  part  of  the  missionaries.  Even  the  more  earnestly  minded 
amongst  them  were  so  unhappily  subject  to  the  authority 
which  obtained  in  a  governmental  coercive  mission  of  this  sort, 
that  they  made  no  resistance  to  it.  With  such  a  method  of 
conversion  it  can  easily  be  understood  how,  at  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  number  of  Christians  should  be  given 
in  Ceylon  alone  as  300,000  to  400,000,  in  Java  as  100,000,  in 
Amboina  as  40,000  ;  and  no  less  easily,  how  the  Christianity 
of  these  masses  was  inwardly  worthless,  and  almost  vanished 
when,  as  in  Ceylon,  the  rule  of  the  Dutch  came  to  an  end,  or 
continued  to  exist  only  as  a  dead  nominal  Christianity  when 
the  revolution  in  the  colonial  mission  policy,  of  which  we  have 
to  speak  later,  took  place.  On  Formosa  alone  had  a  better 
foundation  been  laid,  but  there,  after  the  expulsion  of  the 
Dutch  by  the  Chinese  pirates  in  1661,  the  nascent  Christianity 
was  forcibly  extinguished.1 

29.  A  second  missionary  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch 
was  made  in  Brazil.  It  was  undertaken  in  a  better  spirit,  but 
led  to  no  result.  The  so-called  West  India  Company,  formed 
in  1621,  which  directed  its  first  enterprises  towards  the  Portu- 
guese-Spanish Brazil,  concerned  itself,  like  the  East  India 
Company,  with  missionary  ideas.  In  the  furtherance  of  these, 
a  German  prince,  Johann  Moritz,  of  Massau-Siegen,  who  in 
1636  was  sent  to  Pernambuco  as  Governor-General,  took  a 
conspicuous  part.  At  his  request  eight  clergymen  were  sent 
out  in  1637,  who  were  to  charge  themselves  with  the  care  not 
only  of  the  colonists  but  also  of  the  native  heathen.  Some  of 
them,  Doriflarius  and  Davilus,  translated  the  Catechism  and 
baptized  several  Indians.  Besides  this,  Johann  Moritz  "  erected 
some  schools  for  the  education  of  the  young,  that  they  might 
by  degrees  be  trained  in  religion  and  good  morals:  also  several 
brief  formularies  of  Christian  and  saving  doctrine  were  com- 
piled, and  certain  persons  were  appointed  bo  teach  and  explain 
these  to  the  young."  Unhappily  this  missionary  enterprise 
soon  came  to  an  end,  by  the  resignation  of  the  governor  in 
1644,  and  the  giving  np  of  the  colony  in  1G67.  The  mission 
most  characterised  by  ecclesiastical  independence  was  that  to 
the  Dutch  colonies  of  America,  undertaken  by  the  "Walloon 
Synod  in  1646.  It  laid  special  stress,  in  sending  out  colonial 
clergymen,  upon  their  qualification  for  missionary  service, 
cared  for  suitable  literature,  established  sound  missionary 
principles,  and  also  contributed  from  its  own  resources  to  the 

1  Campbell,  An  Account  of  Missionary  Success  in  the  Island  of  Formosa, 
London,  18S9. 


THE  AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  47 

salaries  of  the  preachers.  But  these  comparatively  independ- 
ent missionary  endeavours  also  had  no  abiding  result. 

30.  In  England,1  whose  mastery  of  the  sea  began  about 
the  turn  of  the  sixteenth  century,  after  the  destruction  of  the 
Spanish  Armada  (1588),  continual  politico-religious  struggles 
more  than  anything  else  hindered  the  awakening  of  the  mis- 
sionary spirit.2  These  struggles,  however,  became  the  occasion 
of  the  first  missionary  endeavours  among  the  North  American 
Indians,  and  these  endeavours,  by  their  reaction  upon  England, 
excited  the  first  missionary  impulses,  which  were  strengthened 
by  the  tidings  received  through  Francke  as  to  the  Danish- 
Halle  missions  in  the  East  Indies. 

In  this  way,  under  the  religious  tyranny  exercised  by 
the  English  crown— the  colony  of  Virginia  having  been  founded 
by  Sir  Walter  Baleigh  in  1584 — there  began,  especially  from 
1620,  an  increasing  emigration  of  Scotch  and  English  Puritans 
to  North  America,  which  had  also  its  providential  side,  in  that 
by  it  the  Romanising  of  North  America  was  checked.  These 
first  emigrants,  who  are  known  under  the  name  of  the  "  Pilgrim 
Fathers,"  at  once  adopted  the  conversion  of  the  native  heathen 
into  their  religious  colonial  programme.  Even  in  the  Royal 
Charter  which  Charles  I.  granted  to  the  Massachusetts  Com- 
pany in  1628,  it  is  provided  "  that  the  people  from  England  may 
be  so  religiously,  peaceably,  and  civilly  governed,  as  their  good 
life  and  orderly  conversation  may  win  and  incite  the  natives 
of  the  country  to  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only 
true  God  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  and  the  Christian  faith." 
The  device  on  the  seal  of  this  Company  was  an  Indian  with 
the  words  in  his  mouth,  "  Come  over  and  help  us."  It  was, 
indeed,  twenty-five  years  before  real  missionary  work  among 
the  Indians  was  begun,  and  meanwhile,  unhappily,  much 
Indian  blood  was  shed.  At  first  the  "  Pilgrim  Fathers  "  dis- 
posed themselves  in  very  friendly  manner  towards  the  natives, 
and  treated  them  with  justice  and  kindness ;  but  when,  mainly 
through  the  fault  of  other  settlers,  feuds  arose,  in  which  the 
Indians  perpetrated  great  atrocities  towards  the  immigrants, 
then  they  took  to  arms,  moved  not  only  by  the  thought  of  the 
solidarity  of  the  interests  of  the  settlers,  but  by  the  idea  that 

1  Fritscliel,  Gcsck.  der  christl.  Missionen  writer  den  Tndianera  Nordamerihas 
im  17  u.  18  Jahrh.,  Niirnberg,  1870,  29.  A.  C.  Thompson,  Trot.  Missions: 
their  Eise  cud  Early  Progress,  New  York,  1834,  39.  G.  Smith,  A  Short  History 
of  Christian  Missions,  5th  ed.,  Edinburgh,  1897,  132.  Graham,  The  Mission- 
ary Expansion  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  Edinburgh,  1898,  38. 

2  The  idea  of  the  naval  chaplain  Wolfall,  who  accompanied  the  expedition 
organised  by  Captain  Frobisher  in  1578,  with  the  view  of  seeking  a  North- West 
passage  to  India — the  idea  of  converting  the  heathen  to  whom  they  came 
to  the  Christian  faith — that  idea  remained  as  isolated  as  it  was  unfulfilled. — 
Brown,  iii.  489. 


48  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

God  had  given  them  the  land  for  their  possession,  and  that 
the  natives  were  the  Canaanites  who  must  be  exterminated. 
They  were  fain  to  call  their  New  England  Canaan,  and  the  war 
against  the  Indians  was  in  their  eyes  a  holy  war,1  a  prelude  to 
the  tragic  history  of  the  dealing  of  the  white  man  with  his  red 
brother:  first  Puritanism  sanctioned  war  against  the  Indians 
by  a  religious  motive  drawn  from  the  Old  Testament,  then  the 
most  naked  self-seeking  legitimised  it  in  the  name  of  modern 
civilisation.  Little,  however,  as  this  dark  side  of  the  inter- 
course of  the  old  Puritans  with  the  Indians  may  be  concealed 
or  palliated,  it  would  be  one-sided  to  forget  that  after  and 
alongside  of  the  conflict  there  went  forward  a  true  missionary 
work  of  peace,  which,  especially  in  the  persons  of  Eliot  and  his 
friends,  discovers  the  most  refreshing  points  of  light  in  the 
history  of  the  Indians. 

31.  Even  before  the  supreme  judicature  of  Massachusetts 
passed  in  1646  the  resolution  to  entrust  two  of  the  oldest 
ordained  ministers  of  the  church  with  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Indians,  John  Eliot,  the  pastor  of  Eoxbury, 
in  New  England,  who  was  42  years  of  age,  and  who  had 
acquired  a  thorough  scientific  education  at  Cambridge,  had  of 
his  own  personal  motive  attempted  the  first  missionary  enter- 
prise among  them.  This  noble  man  has  the  honour  of  being 
the  first  Evangelical  missionary  who,  not  only  from  the 
sincerest  motives  and  amid  the  greatest  toils  and  hardships, 
devoted  his  life  to  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  but  who  also 
made  use  of  truly  apostolic  methods  in  this  work.2  What  led 
him  to  become  a  missionary  to  the  Indians  was  (1)  the  glory 
of  God  in  the  conversion  of  some  of  these  poor,  comfortless 
souls ;  (2)  a  heartfelt  compassion  and  ardent  love  for  them  as 
blind  and  ignorant  men  ;  and  (3)  the  sense  of  duty,  so  far  as  in 
him  lay,  to  fulfil  the  promise  given  in  the  royal  charter:  the 
people  of  New  England  shall  colonise  America  with  the  aim 
also  of  imparting  the  Gospel  to  the  native  Indians.  With 
utmost  diligence  he  applied  himself  to  learn  the  difficult 
Indian  language,  that  he  might  be  able  to  use  it  freely  in 
preaching  and  teaching,  and  translate  into  it  the  Bible  3  and 
other  good  books.  Baptism,  which  he  was  slow  to  dispense,  he 
made  dependent  on  a  real  change  of  mind,  and,  as  his  old  bio- 
grapher says,  he  would  sooner  have  shed  his  heart's  blood 
than  have  given  the  cup  of  the  Lord  to  such  as  did  not  bear 

1  The  general  counter-assertions  of  Thompson  (78)  cannot  weaken  the  evi- 
dence carefully  furnished  from  the  original  sources  by  Fritschcl. 

2  Thompson,  as  cited,  53  ff.,  ami  Fritschel,  35  ff. ,  give  the  original  sources. 

3  The  New  Testament  was  puhlished  in  1661,  the  Old  Testament  in  1663  ; 
twenty  years  later  a  second  edition  appeared.  But  the  tribe  to  which  that 
Bible  was  given  is  extinct,  and  now  there  is  scarcely  any  one  who  can  read  it. 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  49 

the  marks  of  a  disciple  of  Christ.  Those  who  were  won  to 
faith  he  gathered  into  well-ordered  communities,  bound 
together  by  good  rules,  and  these  he  sought  also  as  far  as  poss- 
ible to  civilise  and  elevate.  Besides,  he  strove  to  train  well- 
proved  Christian  Indians  of  blameless  repute  to  become  capable 
helpers.  All  this,  indeed,  did  not  speed  smoothly  ;  along  with 
untold  toils  there  was  also  much  hostility  on  the  part  both  of 
the  white  people  and  the  red.  Yet  the  labour  of  Eliot  was 
blessed.  Not  alone  that  the  number  of  Christians  (1100),  of 
congregations  (13),  and  of  native  helpers  (24)  grew,  though 
they  afterwards  declined  under  the  unfavourable  conditions 
of  war,  but  the  example  of  the  devoted  apostolic  man  found 
followers.  Specially  eminent  amongst  these  was  Thomas 
Mayhew,  whose  family  through  five  generations  gave  to  the 
Indians  missionaries  who  were  blessed  in  their  work.  Almost 
at  the  same  time  evangelical  missionary  efforts  were  under- 
taken amongst  the  Indians  by  the  Swedish  settlers  in  the 
colony  on  the  Delaware,  which  was  established  by  Oxenstierna 
in  1637,  and  these  were  still  continued  after  the  colony  became 
an  English  possession. 

32.  The  missionary  work  of  Eliot,  our  knowledge  of  which 
is  derived  mainly  from  the  so-called  "Eliot  Tracts,"  roused 
attention  in  England,  especially  in  London,  and  soon  drew 
thence  financial  support.  About  seventy  English  and  Scotch 
clergymen,  mostly  Presbyterian,  united  in  a  petition  to  the 
"  Long  Parliament,"  praying  that  something  might  be  done  "  for 
the  extension  of  the  Gospel  in  America  and  the  West  Indies." 
This  elicited  from  Parliament,  in  the  year  1648,  a  manifesto 
in  favour  of  missions,  which  was  to  be  read  in  all  churches  of 
the  land,  and  which  called  for  contributions  to  missions.  Hence 
in  1649  arose  the  Corporation  or  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  New  England,  which  was  afterwards  re- 
organised by  the  philosopher  Eobert  Boyle,  and  exists  to  the 
present  day  as  the  New  England  Company,  but  confines  itself 
to  the  support  of  missions  to  the  Indians  in  Canada  out  of  its 
old  endowments.  Boyle  also  bore  the  cost  of  translating  Hugo 
Grotius's  De  veritate  religionis  christianae  into  Arabic,  and  a 
portion  of  the  New  Testament  into  Malayese.  About  half  a 
century  later,  two  more  Societies  were  founded  within  the 
Church  of  England,  mainly  by  the  zeal  and  energy  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Bray ;  in  1698  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  which  aided  the  Danish-Halle  mission  in  India, 
and  then  Indian  missions  in  general;1  and  in  1701  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of   the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts 

1  Allen  ami  M'Clure,  Two  Hundred   Years:  tlie  History  of  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Christian  Knowledje,  1698-189S,  London,  1898. 

4 


50  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

(S.P.G.).  Its  object  was  the  maintenance  of  clergymen  in  the 
plantations,  colonies,  and  factories  of  Great  Britain,  and  for  the 
propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  these  parts.  Accordingly  it 
laboured  only  occasionally  among  the  Indians  and  negroes  of 
North  America,  and  not  until  the  second  century  of  its  exist- 
ence did  it  begin  to  carry  on  a  widespread  missionary  work 
among  the  heathen.1  These  two  Societies  are  not  organisations 
of  the  church  as  such,  but  free  associations. 

In  connection  probably  with  the  resolution  of  Parliament 
already  referred  to,  Cromwell  brought  forward  a  comprehensive 
scheme  of  missions.  For  the  defence  and  furtherance  of  Pro- 
testant doctrine  there  was  to  be  instituted  a  "  Congregatio  de 
propaganda  fide,"  with  seven  directors  and  four  secretaries, 
who  were  to  draw  their  salaries  from  the  state.  The  whole 
earth  was  divided  into  four  mission  provinces,  of  which  the 
first  two  embraced  Europe,  the  third  and  fourth  the  rest  of  the 
world.  But  the  death  of  Cromwell  and  the  Restoration  pre- 
vented even  the  beginning  of  the  carrying  out  of  this  scheme. 

33.  Joseph  Alleine's  appeal2  (An  Alarm  to  the  Uncon- 
verted, 1660)  was  not  properly  a  missionary  treatise;  and  the 
Proposition  of  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  by  Christian  Colonies 
in  the  Continent  of  Guyana,  published  about  the  same  time 
by  John  Oxenbridge,  had  no  result  in  missionary  action  in 
England.  Neither  had  the  earnest  appeal  which  in  1695  the 
Dean  of  Norwich,  Humphrey  Prideaux,  addressed  to  Dr. 
Tennison,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  which  he  showed 
the  grave  responsibility  of  England  for  the  souls  of  the  heathen 
living  in  her  East  Indian  possessions.  The  new  possession  of 
lands  beyond  the  sea  awakened  the  missionary  conscience  only 
in  single  men,  notably  George  Fox,  the  founder  of  the  Quakers 
(1643),  but  was  far  from  so  doing  in  the  case  of  the  English 

1  A  Handbook  of  Foreign  Missions,  containing  an  Account  of  the  Principal 
Protestant  Missionary  Societies  in  Great  Britain,  Loudon,  1888,  18,  22,  24  ; 
and  Classified  Digest  of  the  Records  of  the  S.P.G.,  1701-1892,  5th  ed.,  London, 
1896. 

2  [In  my  notes  to  this  and  the  preceding  paragraphs  in  the  earlier  edition,  I 
offered  some  corrections  and  additions,  to  which  Dr.  Warneck  has  had  regard  in 
this  new  edition.  It  need  only  now  he  noted  that  although  Alleine's  hook  was 
not  a  missionary  treatise,  but  a  personal  appeal  to  the  unsaved,  Alleine  was  a 
man  of  missionary  spirit,  and  when,  like  Oxenbridge,  ejected  from  his  living  by 
the  Act  of  Uniformity,  he  proposed  to  carry  the  Gospel  to  some  heathen 
country  ;  the  proposal,  however,  was  never  realised.  Among  others  animated 
by  a  missionary  spirit,  mention  should  be  made  of  Dr.  Hyde,  who  superintended 
the  translation  of  the  Gospels  and  Acts  into  Malayese,  and  who  proposed  that 
Christ  Church,  Oxford,  should  be  used  as  a  training  college  for  missionary 
candidates.  Dr.  Warneck  has  happily  in  this  edition  made  mention  of  George 
Fox.  He  had  a  clear  perception  of  the  missionary  duty  of  Christians,  which 
not  only  inspired  some  of  his  immediate  followers  to  noble,  if  isolated,  en- 
deavours, but  through  William  Penn  and  otherwise  contributed  to  a  true 
understanding  of  the  duty  of  Christians  towards  the  heathen. — Ed.] 


THE   AGE   OF   ORTHODOXY  5  I 

nation.  The  powerful  East  India  Company,  which  in  1600 
received  its  famous  charter  from  Queen  Elizabeth,  was  very 
far  from  entertaining  any  idea  of  missionary  undertakings  or 
even  of  supporting  such  undertakings,  even  at  the  time  when, 
in  1698,  the  sending  out  at  least  of  colonial  clergymen  was 
imposed  upon  it  as  a  duty  by  King  William  in.  To  this, 
however,  we  return  later  on. 

34.  From  1619  Denmark  had  colonial  possessions  in  the 
East  Indies,  and  from  1672  also  in  the  West  Indies  and  on  the 
Gold  Coast.  But  with  all  zeal  for  the  orthodox  doctrine,  no 
clergyman  thought  of  bearing  the  "  pure  "  Gospel  even  to  the 
heathen  living  in  these  colonies  until  towards  the  close  of  the 
seventeenth  century.  It  was  King  Frederick  iv.  who  fostered 
the  first  effective  missionary  ideas.  That  Liitkens,  who  was 
appointed  court  preacher  at  Copenhagen  in  1704,  who  had 
lived  with  Spener  in  Berlin,  and  had  not  remained  untouched 
by  the  influences  of  Pietism,  was  not  the  originator  but  only  an 
agent  of  the  missionary  ideas  of  the  King,  may  now  be  regarded 
as  settled.  Already,  when  only  Crown  Prince,  Frederick  iv. 
had  concerned  himself  with  thoughts  about  missions  ;  yet  it  is 
scarcely  to  be  inferred  that  these  thoughts  originated  in  purely 
religious  motives;  for  the  Prince  in  question  by  no  means 
merits  the  high  praise  of  piety  which  has  been  lavished  upon 
him  in  certain  quarters.  Probably  it  was  his  conviction  of 
his  duty  as  ruler  towards  his  heathen  subjects  which  led 
him  to  missionary  projects.  But  whether  that  came  to  pass 
through  an  impulse  received  from  some  particular  person,  or 
as  a  consequence  of  the  theory  of  the  church  at  the  time  with 
respect  to  the  missionary  duty  of  colonial  rulers,  or-  as  the 
result  of  quite  independent  reflection,  cannot  be  decided.  The 
fact  is  that,  in  1705,  the  King  commissioned  the  court  preacher 
Liitkens  to  seek  out  missionaries  for  the  Danish  colonies,  after 
he  had  given  the  same  charge  in  vain  to  two  other  Copenhagen 
court  preachers.  When  Liitkens  found  no  men  in  Denmark 
both  willing  and  suitable,  he  turned  to  his  earlier  colleagues  in 
Berlin,  and  this  led,  through  the  medium  of  Joach.  Lange,  a 
friend  of  Spener  and  Francke,  the  rector  of  the  Werder  Gym- 
nasium, to  the  call  in  1705  of  two  German  Pietist  probationers 
(candidates  for  ordination),  Barth.  Ziegenbalg  and  Heinr. 
Plutschau.1  Both,  after  many  petty  vexations  on  the  part  of 
the  orthodox  Danish  church  authorities,  not  merely  because 

1  It  is  an  unhistoric  legend,  that  Francke  proposed  these  two  first  missionaries. 
They  were,  indeed,  his  spiritual  sons,  but  Francke  had  no  part  in  their  appoint- 
ment. As  to  the  beginning  of  this  Danish -German  mission,  cf.  Germann,  Die 
Griindungsjahre  der  Trankebarschcn  Mission,  Erlansen,  18G8,  41  ;  and 
Kramer,  Aug.  Iltrm.  Francke,  ii.  87. 


52  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

they  were  Germans  but  mainly  because  they  were  Pietists,  and 
that  the  whole  enterprise  was  regarded  as  fanatical  and 
quixotic,  and  after  a  repeated  vigorous  examination,  were 
ordained  at  last  by  express  command  of  the  King,  and  in  the 
end  of  November  1705  were  designated,  providentially  not  to 
the  West  Indies,  as  had  at  first  been  intended,  but  to  the  East 
Indies  (Tranquebar).  But  notwithstanding  its  Danish  head, 
notwithstanding  the  royal  annual  subsidy,  at  first  of  0000 
marks,  later  of  9000,  notwithstanding  the  foundation  at  Copen- 
hagen in  1714  of  a  "  Collegium  de  cursu  evangelii  promo vendo," 
by  which  the  mission  was  made  (not  an  official  concern  of  the 
Danish  church,  but)  a  state  institution,  the  furtherance  and  the 
strictly  spiritual  direction  of  the  mission  lay  really  in  Germany, 
and,  in  fact,  in  Halle.  Aug.  Herm.  Francke  was  the  real  leader  in 
the  matter.  Pietism  united  itself  with  missions,  and  this  union 
alone  enabled  missions  to  live.  True,  it  was  the  Lutheran 
church  within  which  the  first  German  mission  arose;  not 
Lutheran  orthodoxy,  however,  but  Lutheran  Pietism  was  its 
spring  and  its  support. 


CHAPTER   III 
THE  AGE  OF  PIETISM 

35.  It  was  in  the  age  of  Pietism  that  missions  struck  their 
first  deep  roots,  and  it  is  the  spirit  of  Pietism  which,  after 
Rationalism  had  laid  its  hoar-frost  on  the  first  blossoming, 
again  revived  them,  and  has  brought  them  to  their  present 
bloom.  The  various  theological  objections,  by  which  the  ortho- 
dox doctrine  prevented  the  inception  of  missionary  plans,  began 
to  die,  and  that  even  without  their  becoming  the  subject  of 
active  controversy ;  virtually,  it  was  only  round  the  theory  as 
to  the  "  call "  that  there  was  much  debate.  And  this  debate 
would  have  been  more  keen  had  it  not  been  theologians  of 
genuine  university  training  whom  the  older  Pietism — as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Moravian  church — appointed  to  missionary 
service.  The  vision  of  the  religious  condition  of  the  world 
beyond  Europe,  to  which  the  growing  commerce  of  the  world 
was  ever  giving  truer  adjustment,  made  the  assumption  of  a 
universally  diffused  or  previously  diffused  knowledge  of  Christi- 
anity ever  more  untenable,  and  so  corrected  the  old  exposi- 
tions of  Scripture  and  the  old  interpretation  of  history.  But 
that  which  brought  about  the  radical  change  lay  in  the  nature 
of  Pietism  itself,  which  over  against  the  dominant  ecclesiastical 
doctrine  exhibited  the  worth  and  power  of  a  living,  personal 
and  practical  Christianity.  The  energetic  seeking  of  conver- 
sion, as  well  as  a  general  zeal  for  fruitfulness  in  good  works, 
begat  an  activity  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  directed  towards  the 
non-Christian  world,  could  not  but  assume  the  tendency  to 
seek  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ.  It  is  true,  indeed, 
that  much  narrow-mindedness  clung  to  Pietism,  and  that  this 
in  many  ways  impaired  the  freshness  and  the  popularity  of  its 
Christianity ;  but  notwithstanding  that  narrowness,  so  soon  as 
it  allowed  itself  to  be  impregnated  by  missionary  ideas,  there 
came  to  it  a  width  of  horizon  by  which  it  excelled  all  its 
adversaries.  While  derided  as  "conventicle  Christianity,"  it 
embraced  the  whole  world  with  its  loving  thoughts,  and  these 
loving  thoughts  it  translated  into  works  of  love,  which  sought 


54  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

to  render  help  alike  to  the  misery  of  the  heathen  and  to  that 
within  Christendom.  In  spite  of  its  "  fleeing  from  the  world  " 
(Weltflucht),  it  became  a  world-conquering  power.  It  is  the 
parent,  as  of  missions  to  the  heathen,  so  also  of  all  those  saving 
agencies  which  have  arisen  within  Christendom  for  the  healing 
of  religious,  moral,  and  social  evils,  and  which  we  are  wont  to 
call  home-missions ;  a  combination  which  was  already  typically 
exemplified  in  Aug.  Herm.  Francke.  Let  us  now  turn  back 
to  him. 

36.  The  merit  of  Francke,  in  respect  of  missions  to  the 
heathen,  does  not  consist  in  his  having  been  the  first  in 
German  Lutheran  Christendom  to  express  missionary  ideas,  or 
the  first  to  translate  these  ideas  into  action.  As  we  have  seen, 
missionary  voices  were  not  wanting  even  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  the  initiative  to  the  beginning  of  the  Danish-Halle 
mission  came  from  King  Frederick  iv.  But  even  before  the 
Danish  initiative,  Francke  had  been  no  stranger  to  missionary 
ideas.  True,  the  notable  treatise,  Pharus  missionis  evangelicae, 
discovered  in  the  archives  of  the  orphanage, — the  full  title  of 
which  reads:  "Pharus  missionis  evangelicae  seu  consilium  de  pro- 
paganda fide  per  conversionem  ethnicorum  maxime  Sinensium, 
prodromus  fusions  operis  ad  potentissimum  regem  Trussiae 
Fridericum,  in  quo  veritatis  demonstratio,  causae  moventes, 
conversionis  praeparatoria,  tentamen  legationis  evangelicae, 
subsidia  necessaria,  ut  et  modus  conversionis  et  conversorum 
ci  >nservatio  primis  f undamentis  delineantur  et  censurae  societatis 
Brandenburgicae  scientiarum  ut  et  eruditorum omnium  et  pi<  >rum 
seriae  deliberatione  subjiciuntur "  [Lighthouse  of  evangelical 
missions,  or  advice  concerning  the  propagation  of  the  faith  by 
means  of  conversion  of  the  nations,  chiefly  of  the  Chinese ; 
forerunner  of  a  larger  work  to  the  most  mighty  King  Frederick 
of  Prussia,  in  which  a  demonstration  of  the  truth,  moving 
causes,  the  preparatories  of  conversion,  the  endeavour  at  an 
evangelical  sending,  necessary  aids,  as  well  as  the  mode  of 
conversion  and  the  conservation  of  the  converts,  are  described 
in  their  first  principles  and  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Brandenburg  Society,  as  well  as  to  the  serious  consideration 
of  all  learned  and  pious  men], — is  not  by  Francke,  as  has 
recently  been  proved.  Its  author  was  a  Hessian  theologian, 
Dr.  Conrad  Mel,  who  has  fallen  into  unmerited  oblivion.  But 
other  works  of  Francke  bordered  closely  on  missions.  Evidence 
of  this  is  furnished  in  the  treatise  published  by  Frick,  and  com- 
posed aboul  Easter  1701,  containing  the  magnificent  "Project" 
of  Aug.  Herm.  Francke  for  a  "Seminarium  universale,"  or  the 
founding  of  a  nursery  (PHanzgarton),  in  which  a  real  improve- 
ment of   all  classes  within  and  without  Germany,  in  Europe 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  55 

and  all  other  parts  of  the  world,  should  be  looked  for.  Cer- 
tainly, in  this  "  Project "  Francke  had  principally  in  view  the 
quickening  of  Christendom,  but  that  he  included  also  "  foreign 
nations,"  and  designated  his  institute  as  "  Seminarium  nationum," 
is  ample  testimony  to  his  universal  intention.  Add  to  this 
the  founding  of  the  "Collegium  orientale"  (1702),  and  the 
endeavours  directed,  in  connection  with  the  ideas  of  the  younger 
Ludolf,  to  the  awakening  of  the  Greek  and  Eastern  churches, 
endeavours  which  had  as  consequence  the  sending  of  a  great 
number  of  the  scholars  of  Francke  to  Eussia  and  Constanti- 
nople ;  and  then,  if  account  is  taken  of  the  suggestions  offered 
by  Leibnitz,  it  is  evident  that  the  issue  of  these  creative 
thoughts  in  real  foreign  missionary  efforts  is,  psychologically, 
completely  mediated.  Besides  this  universalism  of  intention, 
which  distinguished  Francke  amongst  his  contemporaries,  and 
the  powerful  personality  of  the  man,  who  was  as  mighty  in 
secret  prayer  as  in  practical  action,  as  strong  in  faith  as  in 
tact,  as  narrow  as  a  Pietist  as  he  was  wide-hearted  as  a  Chris- 
tian, there  was  in  effect  a  threefold  qualification  which  fitted 
him  to  be  the  leader  of  the  new  missionary  life.  First,  next 
to  Spener,  he  was  the  chief  representative  of  the  Pietist  move- 
ment, which,  notwithstanding  all  its  one-sidednesses,  first 
awakened  within  and  beyond  the  Lutheran  church  the  fresh 
spiritual  life,  which  became  the  mother-womb  of  a  true  mis- 
sionary vitality.  Secondly,  as  the  founder  of  the  orphanage  he 
enjoyed  a  reputation  far  beyond  Germany,  and  exercised  a  vast 
influence  upon  the  living  Christians  of  his  time.  And  thirdly, 
as  a  most  gifted  teacher,  he  knew  how  to  make  his  orphanage 
a  "  Seminarium  universale  "  for  winning  all  kinds  of  workers 
into  the  service  of  the  kingdom  of  God :  not  that  he  trained 
such  workers  in  a  school,  but  that  in  those  who  came  in 
near  contact  with  him  he  stirred  a  spirit  of  absolute  devotion 
to  divine  service,  such  as  he  himself  possessed  in  highest 
measure,  and  which  made  them  ready  to  go  anywhere  where 
there  was  need  of  them.  Thus  it  was  quite  natural  that 
Francke  appointed  the  missionaries  of  the  Danish  mission,  that 
he  was  their  adviser,  and  that  he  gathered  behind  them  at  home 
praying  and  giving  missionary  congregations.  True,  he  did  not 
succeed  in  making  missions  the  actual  business  of  congregations 
or  of  the  church,  for  the  "  official "  church  declined  the  service. 
It  was  (and  it  remains  still)  only  "ecclesiolae  in  ecclesia," 
which  formed  the  missionary  church  at  home.  But  there  was 
this  great  advance,  that  from  Francke's  time  onwards  missions 
were  no  longer  regarded  merely  as  a  duty  of  colonial  govern- 
ments, but  as  a  concern  of  believing  Christendom,  that  indi- 
vidual voluntaryism  (freewillinghood)  was  involved  in  them, 


56  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  that  this  voluntaryism  was  made  active  in  furnishing 
means  for  their  support.  Without  Francke  the  Danish  mission 
would  soon  have  gone  to  sleep  again.  In  1710  he  also  pub- 
lished the  first  regular  mission  reports.1  In  short,  Halle  was 
the  real  centre  of  the  Tranquebar  mission.  It  was  in  the 
missionary  atmosphere  of  Halle,  too,  that  later  the  first  mis- 
sionary hymn  originated,  that  of  Bogatzky,  "  Wach  auf,  du  Geist 
der  ersten  Zeugen,"  which  gave  to  the  missionary  and  reforming 
ideas  of  Francke  expression  in  classic  poetry.  It  is  to  be 
wondered  at  how  a  man  overburdened  with  home  work,  and 
entirely  dependent  for  the  support  of  his  institutions  on  the 
free-will  offerings  of  Christian  love,  developed  such  energetic 
activity  on  behalf  of  foreign  missions  and  so  magnanimously 
collected  for  them.  But  he  knew  himself  to  be  a  debtor  to 
both,  Christians  as  well  as  non-Christians,  and  he  thought  highly 
of  the  faith  working  by  love  which  multiplies  itself  the  more 
the  greater  is  the  field  of  action  which  is  assigned  to  it.  In 
Francke  there  is  personified  the  connection  of  rescue  work 
at  home  with  missions  to  the  heathen, — a  type  of  the  fact  that 
they  who  do  the  one  leave  not  the  other  undone.  Home  and 
foreign  missions  have  from  the  beginning  been  sisters  who 
work  reciprocally  into  one  another's  hands. 

37.  In   Germany,  still   more   strongly  than  in  Denmark, 
orthodoxy  opposed  the  young  missionary  enterprise,  if  for  no 


1  This  first  periodical  missionary  paper  continued  to  appear  until  the  end  of 
1880,  issued  by  the  directors  of  the  orphanage  under  titles  repeatedly  changed. 
See  its  history  in  the  conclusion  of  the  last  number  of  the  Missionsnachrichten  der 
ostindischen  Missionsanslalt  zu  Halle  (1880,  125  ff.).  Since  1881  a  popular 
magazine,  Geschichten  und  Bilder  aus  der  Mission,  edited  by  Dr.  Flick,  the 
director  of  the  institutions  of  Francke,  in  copiously  illustrated  parts,  at 
2£d.,  has  taken  its  place.  And  the  present  director,  Dr.  Fries,  continues  to 
issue  it. 

At  the  command  of  Duke  Eberhard  Ludwig  of  Wurtemburg,  where  a 
specially  warm  interest  was  taken  in  the  young  Danish-Halle  mission,  Dr. 
Samuel  Urlsperger  composed  in  1715  a  short  history  of  the  Tranquebar  mission, 
which  was  ordered  to  be  read  on  the  19th  Sunday  from  the  pulpits  of  all  the 
Evangelical  churches  of  the  country.  This  has  been  fully  printed  by  Ostcrtag 
in  the  Ev.  Miss.  Mag.,  1857,  p.  23. 

On  Francke's  special  work  for  missions,  cf.  Flath,  "Was  haben  die  Pro- 
fossoren  Francke,  Vater  und  Sohn,  fiir  die  Mission  gethan?"  Missionsstudien, 
75  ft'. 

The  C.  M.  Intelligencer  (1897,  No.  112,  note  1)  states  that  the  Missionary 
Register  which  Tratt,  the  secretary  of  the  Ch.  M.  S.,  issued  from  1813,  and 
which  ceased  to  appear  in  1855,  was  the  first  missionary  periodical  ever  issued, 
and  that  since  its  discontinuance  there  exists  nothing  at  all  like  it  now. 
Both  assertions  are  wrong.  The  Missionsnachrichten  of  Francke  are  a 
century,  and  the  Periodical  Accounts  relating  to  tin  Moravian  M 
about  twenty  years,  older.  Subsequently  to  the  Ev.  Miss.  Mag.  and  the 
Allgemeine  Missions  Zeilschrift  there  are  general  missionary  periodicals  also 
in  America  and  Denmark,  and  in  England  again  {The  Mission  World) 
since  1894. 


THE   AGE   OF   PIETISM  57 

other  reason  than  that  it  was  connected  with  Pietism,  which 
orthodoxy  so  keenly  combated.  The  most  moderate  criticism 
was  that  of  B.  E.  Loscher,  who  in  his  Unschuldigc  Nachrichtcn 
(1708)  declared  himself  not  positively  hostile,  but  only  cool  in 
the  matter,  and  cautioned  against  countenancing  it  meanwhile. 
Most  orthodox  opponents,  however,  were  much  more  vehement. 
By  the  Faculty  of  Wittenberg  the  missionaries  in  1708  were 
plainly  called  "  false  prophets,"  because,  notwithstanding  their 
calling  by  a  princely  head,  which  ought  to  have  broken  that 
reproach,  their  regular  call  was  not  established ;  and  the 
Hamburg  preacher  JSTeumeister,  author  of  the  noble  hymn 
"  Jesus  nimmt  die  Sunder  an,"  closed  an  Ascensiontide  sermon, 
in  1722,  in  which  he  declared  that  "  the  so-called  missionaries 
are  not  necessary  to-day,"  with  the  words — 

"  Vor  Zeiten  Mess  es  wohl :  geht  kin  in  alle  TVelt ; 
Jetzt  aber :  bleib  allda,  wohin  dich  Gott  bestellt." 

"  '  Go  into  all  the  world,'  the  Lord  of  old  did  say  ; 
But  now :  '  Where  God  has  placed  thee,  there  He  would  have 
thee  stay.' " 

Owing  to  this  cool,  indeed  hostile,  attitude  of  orthodoxy,  it 
was  natural  that  the  Pietist  circles  became  the  homes  of  the 
new  missionary  life,  and  moulded  its  form.  If,  consequently, 
certain  pietistic  narrownesses  clung  to  that  life,  yet  the  neglect 
of  the  defenders  of  orthodoxy  deprived  them  of  all  right  to  be 
harshly  critical.  Without  doubt  these  narrownesses  have  not 
been  without  detriment  in  various  ways  to  the  missions  of  the 
present,  but — and  in  face  of  the  one-sided  criticism  of  Pietism, 
which  has  become  the  fashion  to-day,  it  is  our  duty  to  emphasise 
this — the  blessing  which  the  overruling  providence  of  God  has 
caused  to  rest  on  the  missions  of  Pietism  is  much  greater  than 
this  detriment.  For  the  narrowness  of  Pietism  was  a  safeguard 
against  the  mediaeval  error  of  external  conversions  in  masses ; 
it  led  evangelical  missions  back  to  apostolic  lines,  and  bred 
them  to  a  healthy  Christian  development  out  of  narrowness 
into  breadth. 

38.  As  to  the  history  of  the  Danish-Halle  mission,  to  which 
we  shall  return  in  our  survey  of  India,  let  it  suffice  to  note 
here  that  from  Francke's  institutions  there  have  been  sent  out, 
in  the  course  of  a  century,  about  sixty  missionaries,  amongst 
whom,  besides  conspicuous  men  like  Ziegenbalg,  Fabricius, 
Janecke,  Gericke,  Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  was  distinguished 
as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  Amid  various  little  strifes 
and  ample  distress,  occasioned  partly  by  the  colonial  authorities 
and  partly  by  the  confusions  of  war,  this — if  by  no  means 
ideal,  yet  on  the  whole  solid  and  not  unfruitful  (about  15,000 


58  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Christians) — mission  maintained  itself,  until,  in  the  last  quarter 
of  the  century  and  afterwards,  Rationalism  at  home  dug  up 
its  roots.  Only  when  the  universities,  having  fallen  completely 
under  the  sway  of  this  withering  movement,  ceased  to  furnish 
theologians,  was  the  first  trial  made,  in  1803,  of  a  missionary 
who  had  not  been  a  university  student.  Meanwhile  a  more 
living  missionary  interest  had  been  awakened  in  England,  and 
so  the  connection  which  had  already  for  some  time  existed  with 
friends  of  missions  there,  and  especially  the  alliance  with  the 
Church  Missionary  Societies,  saved  the  Tamul  mission  from 
ruin.  Then  later,  the  Dresden-Leipsic  Lutheran  Missionary 
Society  stepped  into  the  old  heritage  of  the  fathers,  after  Halle 
had  long  ceased  to  be  an  active  centre. 

39.  Along  with  the  undertaking  of  the  East  Indian  mission, 
the  missionary  college  at  Copenhagen  turned  its  attention  also 
to  two  northern  mission  fields,  Lapland  and  Greenland.  In 
the  former,  besides  the  faithful  schoolmaster  Isaac  Olsen,  it 
was  notably  the  self-denying  Thomas  von  Westen  (who  from 
1716  to  1722  undertook  three  missionary  journeys)  and  the 
Swede,  Per  Ejellstrom  (who  was  active  in  literary  labours), 
who  sought  the  spiritual  elevation  of  the  still  really  heathen 
people.  The  impulse  to  the  Greenland  mission  came  from  the 
ardent  Norwegian,  Hans  Egede,  who,  after  overcoming  great 
difficulties,  went  himself  and  his  family  to  Greenland  in  1721, 
in  connection  with  a  mercantile  company  holding  a  charter 
from  the  King  of  Denmark.  He  returned,  after  fifteen  years 
of  abounding  activity  amid  toil  and  suffering,  in  order  to  forward 
the  education  in  Copenhagen  of  further  missionaries  for  Green- 
land,— an  effort,  however,  which  led  to  no  real  result.  Still, 
liis  work,  which  at  first  he  handed  over  to  his  son  Paul,  was 
carried  on  from  Denmark,  though  certainly  with  feeble  energy. 
But  even  before  the  departure  of  Egede,  German  missionaries 
joined  in  the  work.  They  were  sent  by  a  community  which,  from 
its  origin  onwards,  has  been  most  intimately  associated  witli 
the  history  of  missions :  they  were  missionaries  of  the  church 
of  the  Brethren.  It  was  through  this  community  that  evan- 
gelical missions  took  their  most  decided  step  forwards. 

40.  But  how  came  the  little  church  of  the  Brethren  to  put 
its  hand  to  missions  to  the  heathen,  and  so  to  open  a  new 
chapter  in  the  history  of  missions?  In  a  manner  which  may 
be  clearly  recognised,  it  was  the  work  of  God.  "He  tied  the 
threads,  prepared  the  paths,  chose  and  fitted  the  men,  and  then 

Hi  a  Almighty  word,  'Let  it  be.'*' 
First,  as  to  the  human  instruments  win  an  God  prepared 
to  carry  on   His  work  among  the  heathen,  these  were  Nieolau 
Ludwig,  Count  von  Zinzendorf,  and  the  Moravian    Brethren, 


THE  AGE  OF   PIETISM  59 

for  whom  he  made  ready  a  home  in  Herrnhut.  Manifestly  it 
was  by  the  special  leading  of  Divine  providence  that  Count 
Zinzendorf,  who  was  to  become  so  eminent  an  instrument  for 
the  work  of  converting  the  heathen,  came  as  a  boy  into 
Francke's  institutions  in  Halle.  He  says  himself  later  of  that 
time  :  "  The  daily  opportunity  in  Professor  Francke's  house  of 
hearing  edifying  tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  of  speaking 
with  witnesses  from  all  lands,  of  making  acquaintance  with 
missionaries  (especially  Bartholomew  Ziegenbalg),  of  seeing 
men  who  had  been  banished  and  imprisoned,  as  also  the  in- 
stitutions then  in  their  bloom,  and  the  cheerfulness  of  the 
pious  man  himself  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  .  .  .  mightily 
strengthened  within  me  zeal  for  the  things  of  the  Lord." 
Under  these  influences  the  pious  boy,  when  only  fifteen  years 
of  age,  formed  with  some  like-minded  comrades  an  "  Order," 
whose  chief  rule  ran  thus :  "  Our  unwearied  labour  shall  go 
through  the  whole  world,  in  order  that  we  may  win  hearts 
for  Him  Who  gave  His  life  for  our  souls."  With  his  friend 
Frederic  von  Wattewille  in  particular  he  made  a  compact  "  for 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  of  such  as  no  one  else  v/ould 
go  to,  by  instruments  to  whom  God  would  direct  them " ; 
also  with  his  wife  upon  their  wedding-day,  "  at  the  bidding  of 
the  Lord  to  take  their  pilgrim  staff  in  hand  at  any  time,  and  go 
to  the  heathen  to  preach  the  Saviour  to  them."  "  Wherever  at 
the  moment  there  is  most  to  do  for  the  Saviour,  that  is  our 
home."  In  the  "  one  passion "  which  he  had,  and  which  was 
"He, only  He,"  lay  the  missionary  impulse, bent  upon  the  win- 
ning of  souls  for  what  was  innermost  in  him,  and  he  knew  how  to 
implant  this  impulse,  which  was  his  only  missionary  motive,  in 
others  who  became  his  fellow-workers.  For  this  man,  aflame 
with  glowing  love  to  the  Saviour,  and  so  many-sided  and  elastic 
that  he  has  been  characterised  as  a  "  religious  virtuoso,"  had  a 
peculiar  instinct  and  craving  for  fellowship.  "  I  admit  no 
Christianity  without  fellowship,"  he  declared.  Besides,  Zinzen- 
dorf possessed  quite  a  pre-eminent  talent  for  organisation, 
which  made  him  a  blessed  '  Ordinarius '  [ruling  bishop],  who 
knew  how  to  give  to  every  society  and  to  every  work  fitting 
order,  form,  and  fashion. 

41.  But  what  could  the  best  organiser  with  the  most  ardent 
love  of  the  Saviour  begin  without  instruments  ?  With  men 
of  commonplace  cast  even  a  Zinzendorf  could  effect  nothing. 
In  order  to  establish  an  expansive  missionary  work  among  the 
heathen  in  that  age,  there  was  need  of  men  of  extraordinary 
faith  and  courage.  "  The  storming  column  of  the  missionary 
host  must  be  a  chosen  troop  of  daring  energy  and  persistent 
endurance."    God  furnished  to  the  Count  that  chosen  troop. 


60  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

It  consisted  of  a  number  of  Moravian  Brethren,  who  for  the 
sake  of  their  faith  had  been  forced  to  leave  their  fatherland, 
and  whom  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  grandson  of  a  sire  who  like- 
wise for  the  sake  of  his  faith  had  been  driven  from  Austria, 
had  hospitably  sheltered  on  his  estate  of  Berthelsdorf.  On 
the  17th  of  July  1722  the  first  tree  at  Hutberg,  near  Berthels- 
dorf, was  felled,  on  which  occasion  Christian  David  the  car- 
penter exclaimed  prophetically,  "  Here  hath  the  swallow  found 
her  house  and  the  bird  its  nest,  Thine  altars,  0  Lord  of  Hosts." 
That  was  the  beginning  of  the  church  of  the  Brethren,  which 
gradually  attracted  to  itself  at  Herrnhut  many  especially  of 
the  ever-increasing  numbers  of  settlers  from  Moravia,  and 
which  hid  within  itself  the  human  material  out  of  which  the 
Spirit  of  God  makes  His  witnesses :  men  of  inflexible  resolve, 
stern  towards  themselves,  ready  for  every  labour  and  privation, 
perfectly  calm  amid  the  greatest  dangers,  and  burning  with  zeal 
to  save  souls. 

As  to  their  character,  only  some  examples.  When  the  first 
missionaries,  David  Nitzschmann,  a  carpenter,  and  Leonard 
Dober,  a  potter,  went  to  the  West  Indies  in  1732,  their  pur- 
pose, to  convert  the  negro  slaves,  was  declared  in  Copenhagen 
te  be  a  foolish  freak,  and  the  directors  of  the  Danish  West 
India  Company  refused  them  a  passage  on  their  ships.  That, 
however  could  not  turn  aside  men  with  the  courage  of  faith, 
who  were  certain  of  their  Divine  call.  When  the  chief 
chamberlain,  Von  Pless,  who  was  well  disposed  towards  them, 
asked,  "  But  how  will  you  manage  at  St.  Thomas  ? "  Nitzsch- 
mann made  answer,  "  We  will  work  as  slaves  with  the  negroes." 
And  when  he  rejoined,  "  You  cannot  do  that ;  it  will  never  be 
permitted,"  Nitzschmann  averred,  "  Then  I  am  willing  to  work 
as  a  carpenter  at  my  trade."  "  Good,  but  what  will  the  potter 
do  ? "  —  "I  shall  just  pull  him  through  along  with  me." 
"  Verily  then,"  said  the  chamberlain,  "  in  that  fashion  you  can 
go  with  one  another  through  the  whole  world." 

Of  a  great  company  of  brethren  and  sisters  who  in  1734 
were  also  sent  to  the  West  Indies,  principally  to  St.  Croix, 
ten  died  in  the  course  of  the  year.  When  the  startling  news 
of  this  sore  loss  reached  Herrnhut,  there  was  indeed,  in  the 
first  moment,  deep  depression  because  of  the  severe  and  unex- 
pected blow.  But  it  did  not  last  for  long :  with  the  full  joy 
of  faith  the  congregation  sang  the  verse  which  Zinzendorf 
composed  on  receipt  of  the  tidings^  and  which  has  become 
so  celebrated — 

"  Es  wurden  zchn  dahingesat,  "  Ten  were  sown  right  far  awaj, 

Als  warm  sic  vcrloren —  As  were  they  lost  indeed, — 

Auf  ihrcii  JBeeten  abcr  stekt :  But  o'er  their  beds  stands,  "  These  are  they 

Das  id  die  Saat  dcr  Mohrcn."  Of  Afric's  race  the  seed." 


THE  AGE  OF   PIETISM  6 1 

In  January  1739  the  Count  himself  landed  on  St.  Thomas, 
just  when,  without  his  knowing  anything  of  it,  the  workers 
there  had  been  cast  into  prison.  Before  landing  he  asked  his 
two  companions,  "  What  shall  we  do  if  the  brethren  are  no 
longer  here  ? " — "  So  be  it ;  we  are  here,"  rang  out  the  answer. 
Then  he  exclaimed, "  Gens  aeterna — these  Moravians." 

Nor  did  the  other  members  of  the  church  lag  behind  these 
Moravians.  In  1734,  along  with  a  comrade  who  was  trained 
in  theology,  the  physically  frail  Saxon  tailor  Gottlieb  Israel 
was  sent  to  St.  Thomas,  where  he  laboured  with  rich  blessing. 
When  nearing  the  island  the  ship  was  wrecked,  and  the  faith- 
less crew  immediately  abandoned  it  in  the  only  lifeboat. 
With  some  negroes,  the  two  missionaries,  who  had  been  left  on 
the  wreck,  sought  to  save  themselves  on  the  rocks  on  which 
the  ship  was  shattered,  with  the  view  perchance  of  reaching 
land  from  it.  For  long  they  found  themselves  in  most  perilous 
plight  on  the  narrow  reef.  At  length  Feder,  the  companion 
of  Israel,  tried  to  save  himself  by  passing  over  the  stones 
between  the  reef  and  the  land  on  to  the  rocky  shore.  A 
piercing  cry !  Feder  lies  in  the  water,  and  the  surge  throws 
him  with  full  force  against  the  rock;  for  an  instant  Israel 
looks  upon  the  death-blanched  face  of  the  brother,  and — the 
sea  has  swallowed  him.  "And  what  didst  thou  then,  when 
thou  sawest  thy  brother  drowned  before  thine  eyes  ? "  was 
asked  of  him  afterwards.     "  Then  I  sang  the  verse — 

" '  Wo  seid  ihr,  ihr  Schiller  der  eivigen  Gnade, 
Ihr  Kreuzgenossen  unsres  Herrn? 
Wo  spiiret  man  eure  geheiligten  Pfade 
Sowohl  daheim  als  in  der  Fern  ? 
Ihr  Mauerzerbrecher  wo  sieht  man  euch  ? 
Die  Felsen,  die  Lo'cher,  die  wilden  Strauch, 
Die  Inseln  der  Heiden,  die  tobenden  Wellen 
Sind  eure  var  alters  bestimmeten  Stellen.' " 

" '  Where  are  ye,  ye  scholars  of  heavenly  grace, 
Companions  of  the  cross  of  our  Lord  ? 
Your  hallowed  pathway  where  may  we  trace, 
Be  it  at  home  or  abroad  ? 

Ye  breakers  of  strongholds,  where  are  ye  found  ? 
Rocks  and  dens,  and  the  wild  waste  ground, 
The  isles  of  the  heathen,  the  furious  waves, — 
These  are  from  of  old  your  appointed  graves.' " 

"  How  was  it  with  thee  in  thy  soul  ? " — "  I  would  have  been 
the  Lord's,  if  I  had  died.  The  text  for  the  day  was  quite 
clear  to  me :  '  How  the  morning  star  shines,  full  of  grace  and 
truth  from  the  Lord.' " 

When  Johann  Sorensen  was  asked  if  he  was  ready  to  go 


62  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

to  Labrador,  he  made  answer :  "  Yes,  to-morrow,  if  you  give  me 
only  a  pair  of  shoes."  And  Drachart,  before  he  entered  that 
land  of  ice,  exclaimed,  "  Strike  me  dead,  yea,  strike  me  dead." 
Such  stout-hearted,  resolute,  brave  warriors  were  needed  for 
breaking  open  the  way  for  missions.  God  therefore  called  the 
Herrnhuters. 

42.  On  the  10th  of  February  1728  a  memorable  "  day  of 
prayer  and  fellowship "  was  observed  in  Herrnhut.  Amid 
praise  and  prayer  and  earnest  discourse  the  Count  sat  amongst 
his  "Brethren."  "The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,"  and 
"  we  cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have  seen  and 
heard,"  was  the  persuasion  of  all,  and  all  felt  a  mighty  im- 
pulse "to  venture  something  real  for  God."  Distant  lands 
were  named:  Turkey  and  Morocco,  Greenland  and  Lapland. 
"  But  it  is  quite  impossible  to  reach  them,"  objected  the 
"  Brethren."  "  The  Lord  can  and  will  give  grace  and  strength 
for  that,"  rang  out  the  answer  of  Zinzendorf,  and  his  dauntless 
childlike  trust  so  profoundly  inspired  all,  that  on  the  day 
following  twenty-six  unmarried  Brethren  joined  together  to 
prepare  themselves  in  case  the  call  of  the  Lord  should  come 
to  them.  Thus  that  "  Brother-chamber "  became  a  kind  of 
missionary  school,  in  which  by  all  sorts  of  instruction  men 
were  fitted  for  future  missionary  service.  There  now  lacked 
only  the  outward  occasion,  which  should  turn  the  missionary 
idea  into  missionary  action.  A  special  Divine  dispensation 
furnished  that  occasion  also. 

In  the-  year  1731,  Count  Zinzendorf  journeyed  to  Copen- 
hagen, to  the  coronation  of  his  friend  Christian  vi.  For  many 
reasons  he  had  long  hesitated  about  undertaking  this  journey, 
but  at  last  he  declared  confidently  "  that  as  a  servant  of  his 
Lord  he  could  not  do  as  he  would  but  must  go,"  and  he  had 
ever  clearer  presentiment  "  that  by  his  journey  God  had  secret 
purposes  to  serve,  which  in  their  own  time  would  be  made 
manifest."  Among  the  circle  of  sincere  confessors  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  who  surrounded  the  Court,  Zinzendorf  had  intercouse 
especially  with  the  chief  chamberlain,  Von  Pless,  and  with 
Count  Laurwig,  in  whose  service  there  was  a  negro,  by  name 
Anton,  a  native  of  the  West  Indian  island  of  St.  Thomas,  be- 
longing to  the  Danes.  The  three  Brethren  who  accompanied 
Zinzendorf  to  Copenhagen  came  frequently  in  contact  with 
this  negro.  Their  testimony  opened  his  heart,  and  he  confided 
to  them  how,  when  sitting  on  the  shore  in  St.  Thomas,  he  had 
often  looked  for  a  revelation  from  above,  and  had  prayed  to 
God  for  light.  In  vivid  colours  he  further  depicted  the 
wretched  condition  of  the  negro  slaves  there,  and  told  that  he 
had  a  sister  and  a  brother  who  were  longing  for  the  knowledge 


THE   AGE  OF   PIETISM  63 

of  God.  Of  all  this  Zinzendorf  naturally  received  minute 
information.  His  stay  in  Copenhagen  led  also  to  his  becoming 
acquainted  with  two  Greenlanders,  who  turned  his  eyes  towards 
their  fatherland,  where  for  some  years  the  Norwegian  Egede 
had  been  labouring  as  a  missionary.  The  Count,  however, 
was  unwilling  to  do  anything  without  the  consent  of  the 
church,  and  on  his  return  to  Herrnhut  he  laid  before  them  all 
the  thoughts  which  stirred  his  heart  in  Copenhagen.  Two 
days  later  a  company  of  singing  Brethren  went  past  his  house. 
Pointing  to  them,  Zinzendorf  exclaimed,  "  Amongst  these  there 
are  messengers  to  the  heathen,  to  St.  Thomas,  Greenland,  and 
Lapland  "  ;  and  so  it  actually  proved.  Among  them  were  the 
first  four  who  offered  themselves  as  ready  to  go  to  the  West 
Indies  and  to  Greenland.  Almost  a  whole  year  was  spent  in 
cool  consideration  of  the  whole  matter  ;  and  then  when,  in  re- 
spect of  Dober,  the  lot  gave  answer :  "  Let  the  lad  go,  the  Lord 
is  with  him,"  all  deliberation  was  at  an  end,  and  Dober  went 
with  Nitzschmann  to  St.  Thomas,  and  the  two  cousins  Matthew 
and  Christian  Stach  to  Greenland. 

43.  That  small  beginning  was  followed  immediately  by  a 
strong  forward  movement.  Not  only  were  ever  larger  bands 
sent  to  the  West  Indies,  but  in  that  first  "  Sturm  und  Drang  " 
[storm  and  stress]  period  missions  were  begun  also  among  the 
Samoyedes  and  the  Lapps,  in  Persia  and  China,  in  Ceylon  and 
the  East  Indies,  in  Constantinople  and  Wallachia,  in  Caucasus 
and  Egypt, — which,  it  is  true,  had  later  to  be  given  up ;  while 
the  missions  in  the  West  Indies  and  Greenland,  Surinam  and 
South  Africa,  and  others  afterwards  begun  in  America,  Aus- 
tralia, and  Asia,  form  until  this  day  the  blessed  fields  of  the 
missionary  labours  of  the  "  Brethren."  There  lay  indeed  in 
this  first  busy  haste  something  of  the  restless  temperament  of 
the  Count,  which  by  his  own  confession  inclined  towards  extra- 
vagances; and  these  numerous  missions,  undertaken  in  rapid 
succession,  occasioned  a  wasteful  dispersion  of  energies ;  still 
there  was  something  heroic  in  the  little  community  daring  to 
set  on  foot  such  world-encircling  enterprises.  That  a  com- 
munity now  existed  which  addressed  its  whole  energy  to 
missions  to  the  heathen,  and  so  had  become  a  city  set  upon  a 
hill, — that  is  the  permanent  historical  importance  of  the 
missionary  work  of  Zinzendorf.  In  two  decades  the  little 
church  of  the  Brethren  called  more  missions  into  life  than 
did  the  whole  of  Protestantism  in  two  centuries.  When 
Zinzendorf  passed  away  on  the  9th  of  May  1760,  he  could 
exclaim  on  his  deathbed,  "  Did  you  in  the  beginning  really 
think  that  the  Saviour  would  do  so  much  as  we  now  see  with 
our  eyes  ?     Among  the  heathen  my  design  only  reached  to  first- 


64  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

fruits ;  now  there  are  thousands.  What  a  mighty  host  already 
stands  around  the  Lamb  from  our  society ! "  Yea,  verily,  as 
the  inscription  on  his  tombstone  reads,  "  He  was  appointed 
to  bring  forth  fruit,  and  fruit  which  remains."  On  his  death 
one  of  his  fellow- workers  could  say  of  him  with  truth,  "  The 
present  time  may  or  may  not  recognise  it,  but  it  will  not  be 
hidden  from  posterity  that  this  man  was  a  servant  of  Christ 
on  whose  heart  lay  day  and  night  the  salvation  of  the  heathen, 
and  that  all  ends  of  the  earth  might  see  the  salvation  of  God." 
It  was  truth  which  the  pious  Count  sang  on  the  occasion 
of  the  world-renowned  communion  service  on  the  13th  of 
August  1737— 

"  Hermhut  soil  nicht  langer  stelien 
Als  die  Werhe  deiner  Hand 
Ungehindert  drinnen  gehen ; 
Und  die  Liebe  sei  das  Band, 
Bis  wir  fertig  und  gewiirtig, 
Als  ein  gutesSah  der  Erden 
Niitzlich  ausgestreut  zu  werden." 

"  Herrnhut  shall  not  longer  stand 
Than  the  works  of  Thine  own  hand 
Have  free  course  therein, 
And  love  unite  within, 
Till  ready  we,  and  willing,  be 
To  be  spread  out  o'er  the  earth 
As  a  good  salt  for  its  health." 

The  church  of  the  Brethren  was  a  "  salt  of  the  earth,"  mainly 
in  that  it  was  par  excellence  a  missionary  church,  and  has 
remained  so  even  after  the  death  of  Zinzendorf  to  this  day.1 

44.  The  vast  missionary  energy  of  the  church  of  the 
Brethren,  numerically  so  insignificant  (numbering  to-day 
about  37,000  souls),  is  a  unique  fact  in  the  history  of  the 
whole  Christian  church,  and  it  is  explained  only  by  the  fact 
that  this  church,  notwithstanding  all  the  weaknesses  attach- 
ing to  it,  is  the  manifestation  of  a  fellowship  grounded  in 
evangelical  faith  and  rooted  in  the  love  of  Christ,  in  which 
the  dispositions  of  Mary  and  Martha  are  healthily  blended 
into  one.  "  Missions,"  writes  Baron  von  Schrautenbach,  "  are 
characteristically  the  common  affair, — so  perfectly  according 
to  the  genius  of  the  community  that,  had  they  not  existed,  one 
could  not  conceive  how  they  could  not  but  day  by  day  have 
arisen."  Accordingly,  the  missionary  enterprise  is  the  work 
of  the  community  as  such.  "  The  Unity  of  the  Brethren  and 
missions  are  indissolubly  united.  There  will  never  be  a  Unity 
of  Brethren  without  a  mission  to  the  heathen,  nor  a  mission  of 
1  A.  C.  Thompson,  Moravian  Mibsions,  New  York,  1882. 


THE  AGE   OF    PIETISM  65 

the  Brethren  which  is  not  the  concern  of  the  church  as  such."1 
Without  doubt  the  church  of  the  Brethren  "  lives  "  to  this  day 
because  of  its  missions.  "  It  will  be  difficult  to  determine/' 
says  Schrautenbach  again,  "  whether  these  missions  have  in 
later  times  borne  more  fruit  within  or  without."  "  To  venture 
in  faith," — that  from  the  beginning  onwards  made  the  little 
church  so  brave  in  action.  Its  watchword  is  spoken  in  the 
characteristic  verse — 

"  Wir  wolVn  uns  gem  wagen 
In  unsern  Tagen 
Der  Ruhe  abzusagen, 

Lie's  Tliiin  vergiszt; 
Wir  icoll'n  nach  Arbeit  frag  en, 

Wo  wclche  ist ; 
Nicht  an  clem  Werk  verzagen, 
Uns  frohlich  plagen, 
Unci  Steine  tragen 
Aufs  Baugeriift? 

"  We  will  most  gladly  dare, 
While  here  we  fare, 
Rest  to  forswear 

That  deed  would  miss. 
We  would  seek  labour  there 

Where  labour  is  ; 
Nor  of  the  work  despair, 
But  joy  in  care, 
And  stones  would  bear 

For  the  edifice." 

There  was  no  lack  of  those  who  offered  themselves  for 
missionary  service  even  in  the  most  dangerous  fields.  Differ- 
ing from  the  Danish-Halle  practice,  missionaries  who  had  not 
studied  were  sent  out,  and  their  humility  and  faithfulness 
gradually  overcame  the  prejudice  against  the  "  unlearned 
laymen."  At  the  first  the  expenses  were  comparatively  small ; 
the  Brethren  were  not  only  accustomed  to  extreme  simplicity 
and  frugality,  but  had  to  earn  their  maintenance  by  the  work 

1  The  article  "  Eine  Streiterfamilie  "  (A  Warrior  Family),  in  No.  1  of  the 
missionary  paper  of  the  Brethren  (1882),  furnishes  an  interesting  proof  of  the 
living  missionary  spirit  which  prevailed  in  the  families  of  the  Brethren.  In 
that  article  it  is  recorded  that  often  from  one  and  the  same  family  three,  four, 
or  more  members  entered  upon  missionary  service,  and  very  frequently  the 
children  followed  their  parents  into  that  service.  But  it  is  truly  a  unique  fact 
in  the  history  of  Christian  missions  that  through  five  generations  members  of 
one  and  the  same  family  devoted  their  life  to  missionary  work.  That  was  the 
case  in  the  family  of  Bbhnisch-Stach,  well  known  in  the  missionary  history  of 
Greenland.  In  1740,  Anna  Stach,  who  went  with  her  mother  to  Greenland 
in  1731,  married  Friedrich  Bohnisch,  the  missionary  already  stationed  thei*e. 
Their  children  and  children's  children  served  the  Lord  in  missionary  labour  for 
140  years.  The  last  of  that  generation  fell  asleep  at  Herrnhut  on  the  6th  of 
September  1881,  after  he  had  laboured  for  33  years  on  the  Mosquito  Coast. 
Meanwhile  a  sixth  generation  of  this  family  has  entered  on  missionary  service. 

5 


66  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  their  hands.  Dehts  were  always  quickly  discharged,  partly  by 
the  church,  partly  by  outside  friends  and  well-wishers.  With 
patient  self-denying  love  they  interested  themselves  especi- 
ally in  the  most  miserable  among  the  heathen  "  to  whom  no  one 
else  would  go."  Of  mass-conversions — on  this  point  in  entire 
accord  with  the  Pietists  of  Halle — they  would  on  principle 
know  nothing.  "  See  you,"  Zinzendorf  said  to  the  missionaries, 
"  if  you  can  win  some  souls  to  the  Lamb  " ;  and  Spangenberg 
declared,  "  We  are  persuaded  that  our  call  is  not  to  work 
anywhere  for  national  conversions,  that  is,  for  the  bringing  of 
whole  nations  into  the  Christian  church."  This  principle,  as 
natural  under  the  given  conditions  as  it  was  practically  sound 
for  missionary  beginnings,  became  the  cause  of  the  lack  of 
independence  in  mission-congregations,  and  of  the  neglect  to 
train  a  native  pastorate ;  defects  which  linger  still  to-day  in 
the  missions  of  the  Brethren,  although  for  a  long  time  now 
efforts  have  been  made  to  remedy  them.  In  extenuation,  how- 
ever, we  must  keep  in  view  that  most  of  the  objects  of  the 
missions  of  the  Brethren  stood  on  a  low  level  of  civilisation, 
and  were  formed  of  populations  in  part  nationally  disorganised 
and  degraded.  The  instructions  to  missionaries  were  very 
simple,  and  the  missionary  methods  were  of  a  purely  spiritual 
kind.  The  baptized  were  organised  into  congregations  altogether 
after  the  model  of  those  at  home,  and  these  were  diligently 
visited  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  directorate,  which  formed 
an  integral  part  of  the  "  Unitats-Aeltestenkonferenz "  [the 
governing  board  of  the  Moravian  church]. 

Thus  there  arose  within  evangelical  Christendom  a  mis- 
sionary centre  from  which,  without  any  ulterior  ideas  of 
colonial  interest,  and  without  any  connection  witli  political 
powers,  but  from  purely  religious  motives,  numerous  heralds  of 
the  faith,  men  of  self-sacrificing  spirit,  and  blessed  in  their 
labour,  went  forth  into  three  quarters  of  the  globe, — a  mis- 
sionary centre  which,  as  the  living  embodiment  of  a  missionary 
church,  summoned  Protestanism  to  follow  its  example.  But 
tli ere  was  no  following.  Not  only  evangelical  Germany,  but 
Protestantism  outside  of  Germany,  remained  cool  and  un- 
interested as  regards  missions.  The  reason  for  this  did  not  lie 
only  in  the  circumstance  that  Pietism,  which  had  become  the 
bearer  of  missions,  was  both  in  its  Halle  and  in  its  Moravian 
complexion  out  of  sympathy  with  church  circles ;  there  was  a 
lack  of  spiritual  life,  and  the  age  of  the  Aufklarung,1  which 

1  [The  Aufklarung  [clearing-up]  is  the  commonly  accepted  term  for  that 
y.roncss  which  went  on  during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  the 
philosophic  .iihI  religious  thought  of  Germany,  exploding  the  positions  of 
orthodoxy  and  subordinating  revelation  to  reason. — Ed.] 


THE  AGE  OF  PIETISM  67 

soon  set  in  and  brought  all  Christendom  under  the  influence  of 
a  pedantic  rationalism,  had  neither  understanding  nor  inclina- 
tion for  missions.  It  was  no  longer  the  objections  of  the  old 
orthodoxy  which  were  brought  forward  in  opposition  to  the  duty 
of  missions  ;  but  the  discounting  of  the  Christian  faith,  emptied 
of  its  mysteries,  the  indifference  to  the  claim  of  Christianity  to 
be  in  possession  of  the  absolute  truth,  and  the  consequent 
form  of  tolerance,  which  would  allow  every  one,  Christian  or 
non-Christian,  to  be  saved  after  his  own  fashion, — these  gave  to 
the  duty  of  missions  the  aspect  of  something  superficial  and 
arrogant.  The  more  this  tendency  developed  into  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  not  only  did  the  antipathy  of  its  adherents  to  every 
missionary  effort  become  the  greater,  but  just  so  much  the 
more  did  this  tendency  fall  like  a  mildew  upon  the  missionary 
life  actually  existing.  The  church  of  the  Brethren,  indeed, 
was  only  washed  round  by  the  waves  of  the  Aufklarung,  not 
flooded  by  them,  and  held  its  missions  above  water, — one  might 
truly  say,  its  missions  held  it  above  water;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  old  Pietistic  circles  in  the  State  churches  were  decomposed 
and  paralysed  by  the  Aufklarung, — until  from  South  Germany 
there  came  a  rejuvenescence  of  the  old  Pietism,  which,  in 
association  with  the  religious  revival  diffusing  itself  from 
Eugland  over  the  Continent,  brought  forth,  about  the  close  of 
the  century,  a  new  missionary  life. 

Nevertheless,  in  what  it  did  for  missions,  Germany,  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  towered  above  all  the  other  countries  of 
evangelical  Christendom.  Missionary  labourers  like  Francko, 
and  especially  Zinzendorf,  were  nowhere  else  to  be  found. 
They  were  assuredly  the  "  Fathers  "  of  evangelical  missions  to 
the  heathen;  the  other  forerunners  of  the  missions  of  the 
present  were  but  as  the  fringe  on  the  evening  cloud.  On  them 
and  their  work  depends  more  or  less  directly  almost  all  that 
came  to  pass  on  a  larger  scale  in  the  future  for  the  extension  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  amongst  the  heathen. 

45.  In  Holland  the  first  zeal  of  the  State  missions  decayed. 
They  had  always  been  becoming  more  mechanical,  and  with 
the  dawn  of  the  period  of  the  Aufklarung,  missionary  duty 
to  the  colonies  was  either  forgotten  or  it  was  discharged  in 
the  most  external  fashion  by  incompetent  colonial  clergymen. 
Most  of  the  native  Christian  congregations  went  to  decay  from 
want  of  supervision.  More  and  more  countenance  was  given  to 
Mohammedanism  for  political  reasons,  until  this  tolerance 
towards  Islam  became  almost  intolerance  towards  evangelical 
missions.  Only  in  quite  recent  times  has  some  change  been 
introduced  into  this  perverted  colonial  policy. 

46.  In  England  also  the  eighteenth  century  presents  no 


68  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

pleasant  aspect.  True,  in  1701  there  came  to  life  "The 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts," 
designed  in  the  first  instance  for  the  British  colonies  in  North 
America  and  the  West  Indies ;  but  the  slender  growth  of  the 
annual  income,  from  £1535  in  1701  to  £2G08  in  1791,  shows 
that  the  society  only  dragged  out  a  sickly  existence.  For  the 
actual  converting  of  the  heathen  it  made  during  that  time 
only  some  feeble  endeavours  amongst  the  Indians  and  negroes 
of  America.1  More  was  done  by  "  The  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge."  Mainly  through  the  zeal  of 
Anton  Wilhelm  Boehme,  a  pupil  of  Francke,  who  had  settled 
in  England  and  was  appointed  a  court  preacher  there,  it  was 
early  induced  to  enter  into  union  with  the  Danish-Halle 
mission,  and  to  support  it  with  money.  Afterwards  it  took 
some  of  the  Danish-Halle  missionaries,  Schwartz  among  them, 
entirely  over  into  its  service,  and  in  this  way  was  instrumental 
to  a  transference  of  a  portion  of  the  Danish-Halle  mission-field 
into  English  hands.  As  the  result  of  the  circulation  of  the 
writings  of  Francke  in  England,  this  mission  was  in  general 
rather  popular ;  even  at  court  contributions  were  gathered  for 
it;  and  in  a  friendly  private  letter  King  George  I.  at  least 
assured  Ziegenbalg  and  Griindler  of  his  interest  in  their  work.2 
In  Edinburgh  also  there  was  formed  in  1709  a  "  Society  in 
Scotland  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowledge,"  which,  how- 
ever, did  no  mission  work  among  the  heathen  beyond  some 
measure  of  activity  after  1740  in  behalf  of  the  North  American 
Indians.  Amongst  the  few  missionaries  sent  out  by  its  means, 
David  Brainerd,3  in  spite  of  the  shortness  of  his  work  among 
the  Delaware  Indians,  has  a  name  distinguished  in  the  history 
of  missions.  He  died  in  1747,  only  29  years  of  age ;  but 
his  biography,  written  by  President  Edwards,  has  exercised  a 
great  missionary  influence :  William  Carey,  Samuel  Marsden, 
and  Henry  Marty n  received  decisive  impulses  from  it.  Lastly, 
the  Kev.  Dr.  Doddridge  (d.  1751)  endeavoured  to  form  a  little 
missionary  association  in  his  congregation  at  Northampton  and 
amongst  his  associates  in  office,  and  to  train  missionaries  for 
the  Indians,  but  his  pupils  left  him  from  weakness  of  faith,  and 
the  interest  in  missions  which  he  aroused  seems  scarcely  to 
have  gone  beyond  the  bounds  of  his  parish. 

47.  Certainly  an  active  part  in  missions  lay  near  enough 
to  the  English  at  this  time,  since  their  supremacy  on  the  sea 
already  surpassed  that  of  all  other  European  nations.  In 
North  and  Central  Amcriea,  in  Western  Africa,  and  above  all 

1  Brown,  iii.  App.  I. 

2  Sherring,  The  History  of  Prof.  Missions  in  India,  Loudon,  1S75,  ix.  13. 
8  Thompson,  117. 


THE   AGE  OF  PIETISM  69 

in  the  East  Indies,  a  wide  door  to  the  heathen  had  in  this  way 
been  opened  to  them.  But  beyond  supporting  the  Indian  and 
Danish-Halle  missions,  nothing  was  done  by  England  for  the 
extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God  among  non-Christian  peoples 
till  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And  why  during 
that  long  time  does  the  history  of  British  missions  remain 
almost  a  blank  page  ? — Because  there  was  lacking  the  spirit  of 
faith  which  alone  has  power  to  write  that  page.  "  With  the 
Restoration  a  deluge  of  satire  was  poured  upon  the  Puritan 
regime.  Court  amusements,  theatrical  plays,  and  witticisms 
combined  to  make  Christianity  ridiculous,  and  the  fashion  of 
the  day  was  to  be  a  scoffer  at  religion.  In  that  epoch  England 
produced  those  'free-thought'  writings  which  have  wrought 
so  much  harm  in  the  world.  Both  parties  in  the  Church  kept 
aloof,  but  the  anti-hierarchical  party  gradually  lost  the  inward 
power  which  it  formerly  had ;  in  the  history  of  that  time  it 
figures  much  more  as  only  a  political  party,  which  allied  itself 
to  the  Whigs.  The  Episcopal  party,  however,  at  the  same 
time  suffered  a  lapse  of  another  kind.  In  order  to  counteract 
scoffers,  recourse  was  had  to  the  idea  of  exhibiting  Christianity 
chiefly  on  the  side  on  which  it  is  open  to  the  fewest  objections, 
the  side  of  its  ethical  teaching,  and  in  order  to  commend  it  to 
the  wise  of  this  world  the  doctrines  of  faith  were  by  degrees 
explained  away.  ...  In  short,  it  was  then  that  the  system 
which  is  wont  nowadays  (1797)  to  be  called  'Neology'  was 
devised." 1  How  dark  the  night  was  which  followed  on  that 
decline  can  best  be  perceived  from  the  conditions  which 
attended  the  breaking  of  the  new  day.  The  religious  and 
moral  decline  of  the  Church  of  England  was  so  great,  that  in 
1726  Bishop  Butler  refused  the  election  to  the  primacy  be- 
cause he  thought  it  was  too  late  to  save  the  church.  In  the 
Preface  to  his  celebrated  Analogy  he  wrote :  "  It  is  come,  I 
know  not  how,  to  be  taken  for  granted  by  many  persons,  that 
Christianity  is  not  so  much  as  a  subject  of  inquiry ;  but  that 
it  is  now  at  length  discovered  to  be  fictitious.  And  accordingly 
they  treat  it  as  if,  in  the  present  age,  this  were  an  agreed 
point  among  all  people  of  discernment."  In  the  upper  circles 
it  excited  laughter  when  the  conversation  happened  upon 
religion.  Blackstone,  the  celebrated  advocate,  had  the  fancy, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  to  go  from  church 
to  church  to  hear  all  the  preachers  of  repute.  "I  did  not 
hear,"  he  says,  "  a  single  sermon  which  had  in  it  more  Christ- 
ianity than  the  writings  of  Cicero,  and  it  was  impossible  for  me 
to  discover  whether  the  preacher  was  a  follower  of  Confucius, 

1  Mortimer,  Die  Missions- Socictdt  in  England :  Gcsch.  Hires  Ursprungs  und 
ihrer  crsten  Unternehmungcn,  Barby,  1897,  Voirede  xi. 


JO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Mahomet,  or  Christ." x  The  great  majority  of  the  clergymen, 
many  of  whom  held  several  benefices  at  the  same  time — one 
actually  17 — which  they  attended  to  through  miserably  paid 
vicars, "  hunted,  shot,  farmed,  swore,  played,  drank,  but — seldom 
preached,  and  when  they  preached  it  was  so  badly  that  it 
was  a  comfort  that  they  spoke  to  empty  pews."  The  bishops 
led  the  way  with  the  worst  of  examples:  they  were  wholly 
worldly  men.  Archbishop  Cornwallis  gave  such  scandalous 
balls  and  plays  in  Lambeth  Palace,  that  the  king  sent  him  a 
written  command  to  stop  them.  At  the  same  time  there  pre- 
vailed, especially  in  the  upper  classes,  an  immorality  which  stood 
in  flagrant  contrast  to  the  beautiful  moral  sermons  which  had 
taken  the  place  of  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel.  Whoredom, 
adultery,  gambling,  swearing,  drunkenness,  Sabbath  desecration 
passed  for  aristocratic  passions.  Among  the  Dissenters  matters 
were  not  so  bad,  but  even  their  communities  lay  in  a  spiritual 
sleep.  "  In  the  secure  possession  of  the  desired  religious  liberty 
they  forgot  the  great  living  principles  of  their  forefathers,  as 
well  as  their  own  duty  and  responsibility."  2 

48.  With  the  religious  and  moral  life  in  such  a  sunken 
condition,  which  did  not,  however,  exist  in  Scotland  generally 
in  so  deep  a  measure  as  in  England,  it  was  impossible,  in 
spite  of  all  colonial  progress,  that  a  missionary  life  could 
strike  root.  There  must  first  come  a  religious  revival  to 
make  the  dead  bones  live,  and  this  revival  came, — one  of 
the  greatest  and  most  permanent  known  in  Christian  church 
history.  It  did  not  come  along  the  way  of  literature, 
which  Butler  and  others  had  entered  in  defence  of  the 
calumniated  faith,  valuable  as  are  the  services  which  the 
writings  of  these  men  rendered;  and  it  did  not  come 
through  the  labours  of  the  worldly  church  officers,  neither  of 
the  State  church  nor  of  the  free  church ;  these  officers  only 
repressed  it.  It  came,  as  all  great  spiritual  movements  have 
ever  come,  through  individual  divinely  endowed  instruments, 
who — almost  all  clergymen  of  the  State  church — had  experi- 
enced a  personal  quickening  out  of  death  into  life,  and  then,  as 
witnesses  of  this  life  in  preaching  of  spiritual  power,  brought 
about  the  dawn  of  a  new  day.  At  the  head  of  these  men 
stand  John  Wesley  (1703-1791)  and  George  Whitefield  (1714- 
1770).3     These  two  men,  of  kindred  spirit  though  differently 


1  The  same  may  bo  said  of  many  rationalist  preachers  in  other  lands. 

2  Kyle,  The  Christian  Leaders  of  Last  Century,  or  England  a  Hundred  Years 
Ago,  London,  1869,  chap.  i.  Stock,  The  History  of  the  C.  M,  S.,  London,  1891, 
chap.  i.  32. 

*  Ryle,  chaps,  ii.-iv. ;  Southey,  The  Life  of  Wesley,  3rd  ed.,  London,  1858  ; 
Tyerman,  Life  and  Times  of  the  Rev,  John  Wesley,  London,  1871. 


THE  AGE  OF   PIETISM  7 1 

constituted,  and  at  a  later  date  severed  from  one  another,1  were 
from  their  youth  religiously  inclined ;  they  sincerely  sought 
the  truth,  and  led  a  morally  earnest,  almost  ascetic,  life ;  but 
they  did  not  know  the  secret  of  the  Gospel  of  redemption  in  the 
blood  of  Christ,  of  the  salvation  of  the  sinner  by  grace,  and  of 
justification  by  faith.  These  fundamental  truths  they  knew 
not,  although  John  Wesley  founded  among  the  students  in 
Oxford  in  1730  a  society,  nicknamed  "  the  Holy  Club,"  for  the 
study  of  the  Bible  and  for  service  among  the  poor  and  prisoners 
and  destitute  persons,  which  was  joined  amongst  others  by 
Whitefield.  Wesley  went  in  1736  to  Georgia  in  North 
America  as  preacher,  and  at  the  same  time  as  missionary  to 
the  Indians,  but  did  not  accomplish  much ;  here,  however, 
he  came  into  contact  with  members  of  the  church  of  the 
Brethren,  particularly  with  Spangenberg,  and  through  them, 
especially  through  his  intercourse  with  Bishop  Bohler  in 
London,  whither  he  returned  in  1738,  and  after  he  had  in  the 
same  year  visited  Herrnhut,  where  he  met  with  Zinzendorf,  he 
found  righteousness  and  peace  in  faith  in  the  crucified  Christ, 
an  experience  to  which  Luther's  Preface  to  his  "  Exposition  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Komans"  materially  contributed.  In  like 
manner  Whitefield  also  owed  his  knowledge  of  evangelical 
truth  substantially  to  German  Pietism,  as  he  testifies  in  his 
diaries  that  "  through  the  reading  of  the  writings  of  Aug.  H. 
Francke  the  beam  of  a  Divine  light  broke  into  his  soul  like  a 
flash,  and  then  for  the  first  time  he  knew  that  he  must  become 
a  quite  different  and  new  creature."  Both  these  men,  who  were 
possessed  of  great  popular  eloquence,  began  now  as  itinerant 
preachers  to  proclaim  through  the  whole  land  the  forgotten  evan- 
gelical foundation  truths,  with  the  convincing  power  of  per- 
sonal experience  and  burning  indefatigable  zeal,  simply,  and  with 
stirring  appeal  to  the  heart.  The  churches  being  soon  closed  to 
them,  they  preached  in  the  open  air,  almost  daily,  to  thousands, 
and  with  great  success,  in  spite  of  much  derision  and  persecution. 
But  Wesley  and  Whitefield  did  not  remain  isolated  wit- 
nesses ;  they  were  joined  by  a  small  number  of  men,  chiefly 
from  the  Church  of  England,  who  had  been  led  to  a  living 
faith,  partly  independently  of  them  and  partly  through  their 
influence.  These  men  have  not  become  so  well  known  as  the 
great  initiators  of  the  revival,  but  they  have  contributed  greatly 
not  only  to  its  expansion,  but   to  its  purifying.1     And   this 

1  Their  followers  divided  into  two  groups — into  Methodists  proper,  also 
called  Wesleyans  ;  and  into  Calvinistic  Methodists,  also  called  "  The  Countess 
of  Huntingdon's  Connexion,"  after  their  patroness,  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon. 

2  Ryle,  as  quoted.  Grimshaw,  Eomaine,  Rowlands,  Berridge,  Henry  Venn 
(senr.),  Truro,  Harvey,  Toplady,  Fletcher. 


72  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

movement,  of  which  the  Methodist  denomination,  forced  into 
existence  mainly  by  the  opposition  of  the  State  church,  is  only 
an  offshoot,1  was  not  confined  to  England  alone ;  amid  the 
storms  and  troubles  which  marked  the  history  of  the  world 
towards  the  end  of  the  century,  this  movement  propagated 
itself  upon  the  continent  of  Europe  and  in  North  America, 
bridging  over  all  national  and  confessional  boundaries,  and 
forming  societies  in  which  pulsed  the  life  of  primitive  love. 
No  doubt  this  revival,  much  more  than  the  German  Pietist 
revival,  bore  a  certain  impress  of  the  forcing  process,  and 
something  of  its  methodist  hue  it  has  carried  also  into  other 
lands ;  but  what  distinguished  it  was  its  striving  after  a 
personal  apprehension  of  salvation,  joy  in  the  glad  tidings  of 
the  Gospel,  the  warmth  of  its  testimony,  the  cordiality  of  its 
brotherly  love,  zeal  for  the  practical  attestation  of  faith,  and 
above  all  the  impulse  to  save  others  after  one  had  himself 
been  saved.2 

1  Wesley  had  no  intention  of  quitting  the  State  church  and  founding  a 
new  free  church.  Repeatedly  he  declared  that  if  the  Methodists — as  his 
followers  were  named— left  the  church  he  would  leave  them,  and  as  long  as 
he  lived  his  societies  remained  in  at  least  a  loose  connection  with  the  State 
church.  Bur  he  was  at  the  same  time  a  great  organiser  ;  he  enrolled  his 
followers  as  members  of  societies  with  orders  of  classes  ;  and  on  his  death  a 
corporation  stood  ready,  which  constituted  itself  independently  as  a  free 
church, — a  step  which  the  State  church  helped  materially  to  bring  about  by 
its  opposition.  And  as  Wesley,  so  also  White  field,  did  not  want  to  found  any 
Dissenting  church.  But  the  intolerance  of  the  church  registered  his  chapels  as 
Dissenting  meetingdiouses,  and  so  occasioned  the  separation  from  the  State 
church. 

-  [Dr.  Warneck's  description  of  the  state  of  matters  in  the  eighteenth  century 
has  special  reference  to  Germany  and  England,  but  it  may  also  be  taken  as 
applicable  generally  to  Scotland  and  to  America,  but  modified  of  course  by  the 
different  ecclesiastical  and  social  forms  conditioning  the  manifestation  of  spiritual 
life  or  of  its  absence.  Want  of  space  forbids  details.  In  Scotland,  however, 
the  defection  in  religious  life  was  not  so  great  as  in  England,  and  the  spiritual 
quickening  was  relatively  more  widely  spread  than  in  either  England  or 
Germany.  The  Moderatism  which  reached  its  height  in  the  Church  of  Scot- 
land about  the  middle  of  the  century,  was  mainly  the  after-working  of  the 
leaven  introduced  into  the  church  at  the  Revolution  Settlement  by  the  facile 
inclusion  of  so  many  of  the  former  Episcopal  incumbents.  Opposition  to 
evangelical  truth  and  the  suppression  of  spiritual  rights  by  secular  authority 
brought  about  the  separation  and  eviction  from  the  church  of  the  foremost  re- 
presentatives of  evangelical  life,  the  founders  of  the  Secession  and  Relief  churches, 
which  afterwards  (1847)  formed  the  United  Presbyterian  Church.  In  these 
the  missionary  spirit  manifested  itself  from  the  first,  not  indeed  in  missions  to 
the  heathen,  but  in  sending  preachers  of  the  Gospel  beyond  Scotland  in  re- 
sponse to  appeals  received,  and  particularly  to  the  colonies  In  America.  The 
Secession  and  Relief  were  fundamentally  spiritual  movements,  which  proved  of 
incalculable  value  in  conserving  tho  spiritual  life  of  Scotland  through  a  dark 
century,  while  they  also  reacted  helpfully  upon  the  Evangelical  party,  which 
was  gradually  making  headway  within  the  State  church.  For  within  that 
church  also  there  was  a  marked  quickening  of  spiritual  life,  to  which  tho  visit 
of  Whitefield  contributed.  In  the  south  it  was  fostered  by  the  revivals  which 
spread  from  Cambuslang  and  Kilsyth  through  surrounding  districts;  in  the 
north  of  Scotland  there  was  nn  independent  movement  of  a  similar  character. 


THE   AGE  OF   PIEITSM  73 

In  its  beginnings  this  movement  was  not  a  missionary 
movement,1  but  the  new  spiritual  life  which  it  brought 
forth  was  the  soil  in  which  a  new  missionary  life  took 
root. 

In  a  remarkable  degree  this  religious  life  entered  into  the  homes  of  the 
Scottish  people  and  moulded  the  family  life.  It  had  not  yet  awakened  the 
Christian  people  to  the  understanding  of  the  missionary  obligation,  but  the 
wood  was  laid  on  the  altar  for  the  fire  which  descended  at  the  close  of  the 
century. — Ed.] 

1  [It  should  be  recognised,  however,  that  in  the  new  spiritual  life,  as  in  the 
Pietism  of  Germany,  the  missionary  spirit  was  inherent  from  the  first,  although 
it  was  long  before  that  spirit  gave  birth  to  missions  to  the  heathen.  This 
is  evident  from  the  expeditions  of  the  founders  of  Methodism  to  America,  and 
from  the  action  of  the  Secession  and  Relief  churches  referred  to  in  the  previous 
note.  It  should  also  be  observed  that  some  of  the  best  known  missionary 
hymns, — "Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun,"  "O'er  those  gloomy  hills  of 
darkness,"  "Behold  my  servant,  see  him  rise,"  and  others,  date  from  before 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Note  should  be  taken,  too,  of  a  book 
published  in  1723,  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Millar  of  Paisley,  entitled  The  History 
of  the  Propagation  of  Christianity  and  Overthrow)  of  Paganism.  It  is  a  learned, 
comprehensive,  and  interesting  work,  containing  many  sound  views  as  to 
missionary  methods,  and  earnest  exhortations  to  prayer,  liberality,  and  devo- 
tion. But  it  is  without  perception  as  to  the  missionary  character  of  the  church 
itself,  and  appeals  to  "  Kings,  Princes,  and  States"  to  prosecute  the  missionary 
enterprise. — Ed.] 


CHAPTER    IV 
THE  PEESENT  AGE  OF  MISSIONS 

49.  The  new  spiritual  revival  quickened  evangelical  Christ- 
endom to  the  understanding  of  the  missionary  signal,  which 
God  gave  in  a  series  of  historic  events  hy  which  He  opened 
the  doors  of  the  world.  Independently  of  the  religious  revival, 
events  happened  which  drew  attention  to  the  non-Christian 
world,  and  through  the  conjunction  of  these  events  with  the 
spiritual  awakening,  which  was  a  clear  evidence  of  the  Divine 
leading,  the  Holy  Ghost  recalled  the  almost  forgotten  mission- 
ary commandment,  and,  by  thus  giving  to  the  newly  awakened 
life  of  faith  a  missionary  direction,  brought  about  the  present 
age  of  missions. 

But  very  gradually ;  for  the  circles  in  which  this  spiritual 
life  was  concentrated  were  comparatively  small,  and  chiefly 
composed  of  insignificant  people,  and  it  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  the  conventicle  character  which  on  that  account  clung 
to  it,  had  an  unhealthy  after-taste  which  checked  its  influence. 
On  the  other  hand,  this  modest  and  limited  beginning  of  the 
present  missionary  movement  gave  it  a  Nativity  impress. 
Like  Jesus,  modern  missions  were  born  as  a  child  that  is  laid 
in  a  manger;  and  such  a  birth  is  always  the  sign  of  the  works 
of  God.  That  the  missions  of  the  present  did  not  spring  from 
the  palaces  of  kings,  or  from  princely  mercantile  societies,  lias 
gained  for  them  a  position  of  evangelical  freedom,  independent 
of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth,  which  has  enabled  them  to 
follow  apostolic  paths.  And  as  their  birth  resembled  the 
Nativity,  so  also  their  growth  lias  been  under  the  cross. 
Missions  in  their  youth  were  no  darling  of  public  favour. 
And  this  is  the  other  sign  of  the  works  of  God,  that  they  bear 
His  shame  with  Christ.  It  was  long  ere  missions  won  to  them 
the  favour  of  the  age,  and  since  that  has  happened  the  purity 
of  their  task  has  been  threatened.  But  we  must  not  anticipate 
the  development. 

50.  Foremost  among  those  Divine  openings  of  doors,  which 
served  as  a  signal  for  missions,  stand   the  geographical  dis- 

74 


THE   PRESENT   AGE  OF   MISSIONS  75 

coveries,  beginning  with  Cook's  voyages  in  the  South  Sea, 
which  stirred  afresh  the  interest  of  Europe  in  lands  and 
peoples  beyond  the  sea.  In  an  appeal  to  earnest  and  zealous 
lovers  of  the  Gospel  in  all  sections  of  the  church  for  an  enter- 
prise to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  issued  in  connection 
with  the  founding  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  it  is 
said :  "  The  new  discoveries  in  the  knowledge  of  distant  lands 
have  contributed  to  broaden  the  desires  of  Christians  as  to  this 
matter.  Captain  Cook  and  others  have  explored  the  globe 
well-nigh  from  pole  to  pole,  and  have  shown  us,  as  it  were,  a 
new  world,  a  world  of  islands  in  the  vast  South  Sea.  .  .  .  Can 
we  not  help  that  a  well  designed  and  well  conducted  mission, 
if  sustained  by  the  earnest  prayers  of  thousands  amongst  us, 
shall  be  accompanied  by  the  blessing  of  God,  and  turn  to  the 
conversion  of  many  souls  ? "  Believing  Christians  in  England 
thus  saw  in  the  new  discoveries  "  an  opportunity  shown  them 
by  Providence  to  do  something  for  the  poor  heathen,"  and  all 
the  more  when  "  they  heard  that  not  a  few  in  different  places, 
without  knowing  anything  of  one  another,  had  expressed  a 
very  ardent  longing  in  this  direction." 

51.  Already  the  first  great  missionary  herald,  whom  God 
chose  as  standard-bearer  of  the  present  missionary  movement, 
the  ere  while  cobbler  and  Baptist  preacher,  William  Carey,  had 
been  incited  to  thoughts  of  missions  by  tidings  about  the 
savages  on  the  islands  discovered  by  Cook ;  and  these  incite- 
ments, received  in  his  workshop,  which  by  means  of  a  large 
self-drawn  map  of  the  world  he  made  as  it  were  into  patent 
reminders,  led  him,  at  a  conference  of  Baptist  preachers  in 
1786,  to  submit  as  matter  of  discussion  the  subject,  "  Whether 
the  commandment  given  to  the  Apostles  to  teach  all  nations 
in  all  the  world  must  not  be  recognised  as  binding  on  us  also, 
since  the  great  promise  still  follows  it  ? "  Whereupon  the 
president  bade  him  be  silent,  declaring,  "  You  are  a  miserable 
enthusiast,  to  propose  such  a  question.  Nothing  certainly  can 
come  to  pass  in  this  matter  before  a  new  Pentecost  accom- 
panied by  a  new  gift  of  miracles  and  tongues  promises  success 
to  the  commission  of  Christ  as  in  the  beginning."  Thereupon 
Carey  had  recourse  to  the  press,  and  published  in  1792  the 
epochal  treatise,  "  An  inquiry  into  the  obligation  of  Christians 
to  use  means  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  in  which  the 
religious  state  of  the  different  nations  of  the  world,  the  success 
of  former  undertakings,  and  the  practicability  of  further  under- 
takings are  considered."  The  forcible  arguments  and  exhorta- 
tions of  this  treatise  led  at  last  to  the  founding  of  the  first  new 
missionary  society  on  the  2nd  of  October  1792,  immediately 
after  Carey's  world-famed  sermon  from  Isaiah  liv.  2  and  3 : 


76  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

"Expect  great  tilings  from  God,  and  attempt  great  things  for 
God."  x     We  return  to  this  fact  later  on. 

52.  The  connection  of  the  founding  of  the  first  moderD 
missionary  societies — the  Baptist  in  1792,  and  the  London  in 
1795 — with  the  general  interest  in  the  heathen  world  across 
the  sea,  which  was  aroused  by  the  geographical  discoveries 
in  the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  stands  beyond 
question.  Since  then  geographical  research  has  never  again 
slumbered.  An  era  of  discoveries  followed,  which  continues 
to  this  day,  and  which  has  removed  the  white  spaces  one  after 
another  from  the  old  maps  of  the  world.  This  eager  research 
has  opened  the  foreign  world  not  only  to  scientific  knowledge, 
but  also  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  since  the  knowledge  of  the 
foreigners  and  interest  in  them  have  become  for  Christians 
an  impulse  to  bring  to  them  salvation  and  deliverance.  Geo- 
graphy and  missions  stand  in  closest  connection  with  one 
another.  Almost  always  and  everywhere— to  use  the  words 
of  Livingstone — "  the  end  of  the  work  of  geography  has  become 
the  beginning  of  missionary  enterprise,"  as  also  conversely, 
missions  have  rendered  valuable  service  to  geography. 

With  the  age  of  discovery  there  was  soon  combined,  and 
there  coincided  with  it,  an  age  of  invention,  especially  of  new 
means  of  communication,  railways,  steamships,  and  telegraphs, 
which  not  only  made  travelling  considerably  easier,  but  re- 
duced remotest  distances  within  a  comparatively  narrow 
measure,  and  so  made  possible  a  world-wide  intercourse  which 
extended  far  beyond  the  intercourse  of  all  earlier  times. 
Commerce,  which  was  rendered  much  more  productive  by 
machine  industry,  spread  over  all  known  and  accessible  parts 
of  the  earth  in  a  manner  before  undreamt  of,  and  political 
relations  were  entered  into  between  the  governments  of  the 
most  distant  and  hitherto  most  unacquainted  nations,  result- 
ing in  treaties  which  were  continually  flinging  over  new 
bridges  between  them.  And  that  it  was  the  Christian,  not 
the  heathen,  nations  of  the  earth  which  made  the  discoveries 
and  inventions  of  the  new  age,  and  thereby  set  agoing  and 
placed  at  their  service  the  modern  world-traffic, — by  all  this 
God  rang  out,  as  with  a  peal  of  bells,  His  summons  to 
Christendom :  "  I  have  made  a  path  for  you, — now  go ;  it  is 
now  the  time  of  missions." 

53.  But  before  the  modern  world-traffic  exercised  the 
influence  that  operated  as  a  stimulus  to  missions,  there  were 
two  other  movements  which  materially  contributed  to  awaken 

1  George  Smith,  The  Life  of  William  Can  y,  D.D.,  Shoemaker  and  M 
ary,    Professor  of  Sanskrit,    etc.,    London,   1885,    chazi.    ii.  :   "The   Birth  o\ 

England's  Foreign  Missions." 


THE   PRESENT   AGE  OF   MISSIONS  J'] 

and  broaden  the  understanding  of  missions,  namely,  the  ideas 
of  political  freedom  which,  especially  after  the  North  American 
War  of  Independence  and  the  French  Revolution,  circulated 
through  the  nations  of  Europe,  and,  connected  with  these,  the 
idea  of  humanity  which  proclaimed  the  common  rights  of 
men.  Revolutionary  as  those  ideas  were,  and  little  based  on 
religion  as  was  the  advocacy  of  common  human  rights,  yet 
they  rendered  preparatory  service  to  the  missionary  movement 
by  bringing  about,  in  connection  with  Rousseau's  ideals  of 
nature,  a  change  in  the  estimate  of  non-Christian  and  un- 
civilised humanity,  and  by  making  it  materially  easier  for 
Christian  circles  to  assert  the  right  of  all  men  to  the  Gospel 
also.  The  old  view  of  the  brutishness  of  the  heathen  and  of 
their  insusceptibility  to  conversion  yielded  to  a  Christian 
optimism,  which  regarded  them  in  all  their  degradation  as 
brethren  capable  of  being  saved  and  needing  to  be  saved. 
Into  this  movement  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity 
there  came,  partly  as  its  fruit,  the  agitation  for  the  abolition 
of  the  slave  trade  and  of  slavery.  No  doubt  this  anti-slavery 
movement,  which  began  in  the  eighties  of  the  previous 
century,  was  mingled  with  much  political  party  zeal  and 
liberal  faddism,  but  it  was  also  charged  with  much  genuine 
philanthropy,  and  especially  in  the  case  of  its  foremost  leader, 
the  noble  William  Wilberforce,  the  moving  impulses  were  love 
for  man  begotten  of  Christian  faith  and  a  patriotic  sense  of 
duty.1  And  besides  Wilberforce  there  were  many  religious 
men,  on  this  side  of  the  ocean  as  on  that,  who  brought  the 
movement  into  process  and  kept  it  in  proper  process  until  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade,  and  then — at  least  in  the  English 
colonies — of  slavery  also,  was  actually  accomplished.  By  this 
movement,  continuing  through  several  decades,  public  attention 
was  directed  to  the  negro  slaves,  and  public  sympathy  with 
them  excited ;  and  so,  along  with  the  duty  of  compassion  for 
them,  there  was  stirred  also  in  wider  circles  the  consciousness 
of  the  missionary  shortcoming  and  the  missionary  obligation 

1  Tims  he  declared  in  a  speech  in  Parliament  in  1816  :  "  The  grand  argu- 
ments against  its  are  derived  from  what  are  called  Methodism  and  fanaticism. 
What  gentlemen  mean  by  the  terms  I  am  not  very  well  aware,  and  I  may 
doubt  perhaps  if  they  themselves  know  ;  but  this  I  will  say — if  to  be  feelingly 
alive  to  the  sufferings  of  my  fellow-creatures  and  to  be  warmed  with  the 
desire  of  relieving  their  distresses,  is  to  be  a  fanatic,  I  am  one  of  the  most 
incurable  fanatics  ever  permitted  to  be  at  large.  .  .  .  And  I  will  say  that 
eventually  we  depend  for  our  success  upon  the  very  principle  by  which  they 
endeavour  to  discredit  our  cause.  I  rely  upon  the  religion  of  the  people  of  this 
country, — because  the  people  of  England  are  religious  and  moral.  Lovingjustice 
and  hating  iniquity,  they  consider  the  oppressed  as  their  brethren  whatever  be 
their  complexion  ;  and  tbey  will  feel  more  especially  for  the  despised  race  of 
the  blacks,  because  they  find  that  they  are  so  despised  and  degraded." — [Lif 
of  William  Wilberforce,  vol.  iv.  pp.  289-291.— Ed.] 


78  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  church,  to  the  strengthening  of  the  incipient  missionary 
movement.  Not  only  was  Wilberforce  in  touch  with  the 
little  missionary  circles  which  then  existed,  and  not  only  did 
he  bring  missionaries  forward  as  witnesses  before  the  official 
commissions  of  inquiry;  he  was  himself  an  active  friend  of 
missions,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  founding  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  in  1799,  as  later  in  that  of  the 
British  Bible  Society  in  1804.  The  anti-slavery  movement 
and  evangelical  missions  were  in  alliance  from  the  beginning. 
As  the  former  had  helped  to  bring  the  missionary  movement 
into  process,  the  latter  in  turn  powerfully  influenced  the  anti- 
slavery  movement,  and  it  is  difficult  to  determine  which  of 
the  two  had  the  greater  gain  from  the  other.1 

54.  Finally,  there  is  to  be  noticed  one  other  significant  event, 
namely,  that  towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  the 
national  conscience  of  England  was  roused  with  regard  to  the 
sins  of  commission  and  neglect  which  the  East  India  Company 
had  heaped  upon  itself  by  its  scandalous  conduct  towards 
the  native  Indians  during  well-nigh  two  centuries.  All  the 
princely  commercial  colonial  companies  which  up  to  this  day 
have  borne  rule  in  possessions  beyond  the  sea,  are  chargeable 
with  much  crime  towards  the  natives,  but  assuredly  none  with 
greater  than  the  powerful  East  India  Company.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  necessary  to  cast  at  least  a  brief  glance  upon  the 
history  of  that  Company,  which  "  is  one  of  the  vastest  and 
most  notable,  yet  certainly  also  one  of  the  most  melancholy, 
even  revolting,  spectacles  that  the  world  presents."  2 

The  aim  of  this  princely  Company,  in  whose  hands  lay  not 
only  the  monopoly  of  trade  and  the  administration  of  the 
interior,  but  also  the  right  to  wage  war  and  to  conclude 
treaties,  was  solely  its  own  enrichment.  It  sought  gain, 
always  gain ;  every  idea  loftier  than  a  money  standard  was 
alien  to  it.  From  the  view-point  of  accumulating  wealth  all 
its  undertakings  were  directed,  and  the  question  as  to  the 
righteousness  of  the  means  was  never  considered.  "  In  our 
own  country,"  writes  an  Indian  official  of  high  standing, 
in  way  of  excuse,  "religion  was  then  at  a  very  low  ebb; 
so  that  it  need  not  be  surprising  that  the  representatives 
of  commercial  interests  in  India,  who  were  far  from  any  in- 
fluence which  still  had  force  at  home,  showed  in  their  life  little 
of  the  spirit  of  Christianity."  That  is  very  euphemistically 
put,  in  view  of  the  mass  of  horrors  and  crimes  which  character- 

1  Warneck,  Die  Stellung  der  evangel ischen  Mission  \nr  Sl:!,n-cnfrage,  Gtttera- 
loh,   1889,  12. 

3  Youn#,  "Mission  Work  in  India,  viewed  in  its  relation  to  the  Civil 
Government/3  Ck.  Miss.  Inlcllig.,  1885,  83. 


THE   PRESENT   AGE   OF   MISSIONS  79 

ised  the  taxation  system  of  the  Company,  the  manner  of  its 
wars,  and  the  subjection  of  Indian  princes  under  its  rule.  Its 
two  greatest  heroes — Clive,  who  by  the  battle  of  Plassey  in 
1757  laid  the  foundation  for  the  powerful  British  Indian 
Empire,  and  especially  Hastings,  who  as  the  first  governor 
(1772-1785)  completed  the  structure  by  a  policy  of  the  basest 
perfidy — have  written  their  fame  with  much  blood,  falsehood, 
and  injustice  in  the  history  of  that  empire.  When  the  know- 
ledge of  the  scandalous  conduct  of  Hastings  spread  in  England, 
a  cry  of  indignation  and  horror  rang  through  the  land,  demand- 
ing the  recall  and  impeachment  of  the  notorious  governor. 
At  that  time  (1784)  Burke  declared  in  Parliament  "  that  the 
right  conferred  on  the  Company  by  its  charter,  to  make  war 
and  conclude  peace,  had  been  abused  by  it  for  sowing  discord 
and  spreading  dissension  in  every  quarter,  in  order  then  to  fish 
in  troubled  waters :  all  compacts  of  peace  which  it  concluded 
with  Indian  princes  were  just  so  many  occasions  for  faithless 
breaches  of  the  peace.  Countries  once  the  most  prosperous  had 
been  brought  to  a  condition  of  indigence  and  decay  and  depopu- 
lation, to  the  diminution  of  our  own  power  and  the  infinite  dis- 
honour of  our  national  character.1  .  .  .  Many  millions  of  innocent 
and  deserving  natives,  whom  it  was  the  duty  of  England  to 
shield  from  violence  and  injustice,  were  placed  under  a  despotic 
and  rapacious  tyranny." 2 

That  a  Company,  against  which  such  accusations  were  made, 
did  not  concern  itself  at  all  with  the  intellectual,  moral,  and 
religious  well-being  of  its  dependents,  is  self-evident.  It  is 
true  that  in  the  charter  granted  to  the  Company  by  William  ill. 
in  1698,  and  also  in  that  renewed  by  Queen  Anne  in  1702, 
it  was  enacted  "  that  in  every  garrison  and  more  important 
factory  in  the  said  East  Indies  there  shall  be  a  clergyman,  .  .  . 
and  that  he  shall  take  pains  to  learn  the  language  of  the 
country,  so  as  to  be  in  a  position  to  instruct  the  heathen, 
whether  servants  or  slaves  of  the  Company,  or  those  with 
whom  it  does  business,  in  the  Protestant  religion."  But  the 
handful  of  chaplains  who  went  to  India  were  not  as  a  rule 
men  of  the  stamp  who  would  have  even  interested  themselves 
in  heathen  servants,  nor  did  the  Company  so  desire.  Origin- 
ally it  had  no  religious  policy  at  all ;  from  its  absolute  indif- 

1  The  way  in  which  this  happened  was  through  large  masses  of  government 
troops  being  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Indian  princes,  in  order  to  take  venge- 
ance on  their  enemies.  The  princes  were  immediately  encouraged  to  bloodshed 
amongst  themselves  if  the  Company  thereby  gained  money  or  had  the  prospect 
of  obtaining  the  territory,  or  at  least  the  revenues,  of  these  princes,  in  case  they 
were  not  able  to  pay  the  stipulated  wages  to  the  mercenaries  lent  to  them. 
This  scandalous  policy  formed  a  chief  count  of  the  indictment  against  Hastings. 

2  [The  Speeches  of  the  Eight  Hon.  Edmund  Burke,  London,  1876,  vol.  iii. 
pp,  38  and  39.— Ed.'] 


SO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

ference  to  religion  it  had  no  idea  whatever  of  Christianising ; 
and  later  it  resolutely  excluded  every  endeavour  in  this 
direction  from  its  territory.  When  Carey  came  to  India  in 
1793,  he  had  to  follow  a  secular  business,  that  he  might  settle 
on  British  territory.  But  since  along  with  that  he  did  mis- 
sionary work,  he  was  soon  no  longer  tolerated  as  an  overseer  of 
an  indigo  plantation,  and  along  with  fellow  labourers,  who 
had  been  sent  out  after  him,  he  was  compelled  to  remove  to 
Danish  Serampore.  The  Company  even  demanded  the  expul- 
sion of  the  missionaries  from  thence,  and  it  was  only  to  the 
fearless  firmness  of  the  Danish  governor  that  the  mission 
owed  its  continuance.  Nor  was  the  policy  of  the  Company, 
which  was  afraid  of  danger  to  its  money  interest  from  every 
interference  with  the  religious  customs  of  the  natives,  satisfied 
with  the  hostile  warding  off  of  all  Christian  influence ;  it 
positively  favoured  idolatry.  The  Company  not  only  rendered 
all  public  honour  through  its  official  representatives  to  the 
institutions  of  heathen  idolatry,  but  also  undertook  the  super- 
vision of  the  temples  and  the  administration  of  temple  pro- 
perty ;  and  whilst,  on  the  one  hand,  it  charged  itself  with  the 
upkeep  of  temple  buildings,  and  with  the  maintenance  of  the 
priests  and  priestesses  of  the  temples,  on  the  other  hand, 
chiefly  by  collecting  taxes  on  pilgrims,  it  secured  for  itself  and 
its  officials  a  not  inconsiderable  revenue.  And  that  was  still 
the  case  on  the  most  extensive  scale  in  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth and  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  1783  the  first  storm  arose  against  the  evil  doings  of  the 
all-powerful  Company.  At  first  the  only  result  was  a  new 
organisation  of  the  management  by  enactment  of  Parliament. 
Amongst  the  complaints  there  were  as  yet  none  concerning 
the  neglect  of  the  spiritual  and  moral  well-being  of  the  natives. 
Nevertheless  the  question  was  raised,  public  opinion  was 
drawn  into  the  conflict,  and  the  conscience  of  the  nation  was 
awakened.  The  more  decidedly  the  demand  was  made  in  Chris- 
tian circles  that  the  salvation  of  the  Hindoos  should  be  cared  for, 
— and  with  the  sending  out  of  the  first  missionaries  practical 
expression  was  quickly  given  to  this  demand, — the  more  hostile 
was  the  attitude  which  the  Company  took  up.  Immediately 
after  the  Parliamentary  debates  of  1793,  which  had  issued  in 
measures  such  as  "gradually  contributed  to  the  extension  of 
sound  knowledge  and  the  elevation  of  the  religious  and  moral 
condition  of  those  peoples,"  Mr.  Bensley,  one  of  the  Directors 
of  the  Company,  declared :  "The  sending  out  of  missionaries 
into  our  Eastern  possessions  is  the  maddest,  most  extravaganl . 
most  r-ostly,  most  indefensible  project  which  has  ever  been 
suggested  by  a  moonstruck  fanatic.      Such  a  scheme  is  per- 


THE   PRESENT  AGE  OF   MISSIONS  8 1 

nicious,  imprudent,  useless,  harmful,  dangerous,  profitless, 
fantastic.  It  strikes  against  all  reason  and  sound  policy ;  it 
brings  the  peace  and  safety  of  our  possessions  into  peril." x  But 
the  more  immoderately  the  Company  set  itself  in  opposition 
to  the  force  of  the  Christian  conscience,  the  more  powerful  was 
the  counter -action  of  conscience ;  and  the  more  unscrupulously 
the  Company  treated  the  missionaries  who  were  sent  out,  the 
more  was  its  own  mischievous  policy  exposed,  and  the  more 
resolute  the  conflict  became,  until  in  1813  the  ban  was  broken, 
and  at  length  by  a  parliamentary  edict  missionary  work  in 
India  was  sanctioned,  after  something  at  least  had  already 
been  attempted  in  behalf  of  the  natives  by  the  sending  out 
of  devout  Government  chaplains,  H.  Martyn,  D.  Brown,  CI. 
Buchanan,  and  others.  Once  more  the  brave  Wilberforce,  in 
the  power  of  his  fiery  and  convincing  eloquence,  was  the 
principal  leader  in  this  struggle.  Buchanan,  who  while  in 
India  had  done  preparatory  work  by  his  two  writings,  Memoir 
of  the  Expediency  of  an  Ecclesiastical  Establishment  in  British 
India  and  Christian  Researches  in  the  East,  came  to  England 
and  interested  the  great  English  public  in  the  Indian  question 
by  his  powerful  sermons,  one  of  which,  with  the  title  The  Star 
in  the  East,  was  circulated  in  thousands  of  copies.  The  little 
band  of  friends  of  missions  by  their  indefatigable  zeal  brought 
850  petitions  out  of  all  parts  of  the  land  before  Parliament, 
a  number  such  as  had  never  yet  been  laid  upon  the  table  of 
the  House.  And  under  these  struggles  against  the  egoist 
policy  of  the  East  India  Company,  which  stirred  the  whole 
English  people,  and  which  led  in  1833  and  in  1853  to  ever 
fuller  victories,  until  after  the  great  Mutiny  in  1859,  its  rule 
was  completely  set  aside, — just  under  these  very  struggles  did 
there  grow  up  among  the  Christians  of  England  the  sense  of 
their  guilty  neglect  of  the  heathen  who  were  subject  to  their 
rule ;  while  the  consciousness  of  the  national  duty  of  removing 
that  reproach  by  energetic  missionary  activity  became  ever 
more  vivid ;  and  with  the  growing  discharge  of  this  duty  on 
the  part  of  Britain  the  missionary  conscience  was  increasingly 
awakened  also  in  the  other  lands  of  evangelical  Christendom. 
55.  And  now  it  befel  the  newly  awakened  missionary  life 

1  This,  indeed,  was  not  the  official  declaration  of  the  Company  itself.  In 
:ts  official  utterances  in  1803  the  Company  confined  itself  to  conceding  "that 
clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  should  be  appointed  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  Protestant  English  subjects  existing  in  India,"  but  emphatically  re- 
fused "  any  further  outlay  on  the  part  of  the  Company  as  unwise  and  dangerous 
to  the  peace  and  order  of  the  British  possessions  in  India. " — The  Christian  of  17th 
September  1903. — An  authentic  extract  from  the  relative  document  is  given 
in  J.  C.  Marshman,  Life  and  Times  of  Carey,  Marshman,  and  Ward,  London, 
1859,  vol.  i.  p.  43. 

6 


82  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

in  England  at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  had  been 
the  case  in  Germany  at  the  beginning  of  the  same  :  the  official 
representatives  of  the  church  set  themselves  as  a  body  in 
antagonism  to  it.  Even  amongst  the  Baptists,  to  whom  be- 
longs the  merit  of  having  been  the  first  to  call  a  missionary 
society  into  existence  and  of  having  sent  the  first  English 
missionary  to  India,  the  majority  of  the  church  officials  declined 
to  take  an  active  part  in  missions,  and  in  the  State  church  the 
Bishops  forbade  their  clergy  from  allowing  the  deputations  of 
the  young  C.M.S.  to  preach  in  their  churches.1  "  This  activity  in 
the  cause  of  our  great  Eedeemer,"  writes  Haweis,  a  minister  of  the 
State  church  and  principal  founder  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  who  was  chaplain  to  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon,  "  is 
here  at  home  called  Methodism,  an  indefinite  expression  which 
indicates  in  general  a  more  than  wonted  diligence  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord,  very  much  as  in  Germany  the  same  spirit 
is  called  Pietism  or  Herrnhutianism." 

That  indicates  the  main  reason  of  the  aversion  of  the 
official  churches  to  the  nascent  missionary  enterprise,  an 
aversion  which  often  went  the  length  of  hostility.  The  old 
theological  considerations,  which  had  become  untenable,  no 
longer  played  a  part.  Only  here  and  there  was  the  Calvinistic 
doctrine  of  predestination  or  the  necessity  of  gifts  of  miracles 
and  tongues  adduced  as  determining  the  carrying  out  of  the 
missionary  mandate.  It  was  now  much  rather  the  rationalism 
dominating  the  government  of  the  church  and  theology 
which  combated  the  newly  awakened  life  of  faith  as  a  retro- 
grade and  obscurantist  tendency,  and  combated  as  arrogant 
fanaticism  the  missions  instigated  and  animated  by  this  ten- 
dency, which  it  hated.  The  objection  that  there  is  enough  to 
do  at  home,  and  that  those  of  our  own  household  must  be 
cared  for  before  thinking  of  the  heathen,  emerged  later. 
Almost  all  the  attacks  made  upon  missions  in  their  youth 
amounted  to  this,  that  they  were  as  extravagant  as  they  were 
foolish  and  hopeless  undertakings. 

56.  In  this  exigency,  when  the  official  church,  having  taken 
up  an  attitude  to  missions  partly  of  indifference  and  partly  of 
hostility,  declined  the  service,  no  other  course  was  open  than 
to  appoint  representatives  independent  of  the  church  organisa- 
tion to  whose  hands  the  work  of  missions  might  be  committed. 
And  thus  of  dire  necessity  there  was  born  within  the  Pro- 
testant world  that  free  association  which  was  thenceforth  to 
play  in  its  history  a  role  of  eminent  importance.  That  this 
forced  birth  did  not  happen  without  the  leading  of  Providence 
is  to-day  readily  acknowledged  even  by  the  official  church 
1  Intelligencer,  1902,  652. 


THE   PRESENT   AGE    OF   MISSIONS  83 

itself,  it  having  long  ago  exchanged  its  attitude  of  opposition 
to  missions  into  that  of  friendship.  For  with  the  free  asso- 
ciation founded  on  the  Christian  principle  of  Voluntaryism, 
specially  in  connection  with  the  enlisting  for  service  of  the 
energies  of  the  believing  laity,  there  came  into  operation  in  the 
Evangelical  church  not  only  a  form  but  a  power  of  life  which, 
both  as  regards  the  work  of  salvation  at  home  and  the  extension 
of  Christianity  among  the  heathen,  has  done  a  work  which  the 
official  church  could  not  have  done  by  its  official  representatives.1 
The  free  alliance  of  believers  in  missionary  societies  has  become 
an  inestimable  blessing  to  the  church  itself ;  it  began  in 
the  church  the  removal  of  a  social  defect  which  was  very 
materially  to  blame  for  the  fact  that,  until  the  end  of  the 
previous  century,  there  had  been  inside  of  Protestantism 
so  little  of  combined  action.  These  societies,  which  became 
more  and  more  naturalised  outlets  for  the  activities  of  love  in 
the  church  at  home,  supplied  to  Protestantism  an  evangelical 
substitute  for  the  corporations  which  the  church  of  Eome 
possesses  in  its  Orders.  They  had  their  starting-point  already 
in  the  ecclesiolce  in  ecclesia  of  Pietism.  It  was  a  sign  of  the 
soundness  of  the  present  constitution  of  missions,  that  single 
individuals,  who  had  been  persuaded  of  their  Divine  call  to 
missionary  service,  did  not  go  to  the  heathen  as  independent 
individuals,  an  error  which  in  recent  times  has  taken  the 
place  of  a  regular  sending  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  free 
missionaries,  of  whom  we  shall  come  to  speak  later  ;  but  that 
the  beginning  was  made  with  the  founding  at  home  of  mis- 
sionary institutions  in  the  form  of  free  societies.  Only  by 
such  regular  missionary  institutions — not  to  speak  of  other 
advantages — was  it  possible  that  missions  could  strike  those 
deep  roots  at  home  without  which  they  would  have  had  no 
secure  and  lasting  support. 

57.  From  the  declinature  of  service  by  the  official  church 
there  arose  a  second  emergency:  theologians  were  lacking. 
What  kept  pastors  and  probationers  from  becoming  mission- 
aries was  hardly  any  longer  the  dogmatic  objection  that  no 
summons  to  mission  work  among  the  heathen  now  exists,  or 
it  was  so  only  in  a  faint  degree;  the  inward  call  and  the 
spiritual  qualification  were  wanting.  In  face  of  this  lack, 
men  bethought  them  of  what  Jesus  did  when  the  priests  and 
scribes  of  His  time  declined  His  service.  Eecourse  was  had  to 
laymen,  and  this  recourse,  imposed  by  necessity,  came  to  be 
of  great  importance  for  the  future,  for  through  it  powers  for 
service  in  the  kingdom  of  God  at  home  and  abroad  were  set 

1  On  the  superiority  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  free  societies  to  that  of 
the  official  church,  see  Warneck,  Evcmg.  Missions!  ehre,  ii.  37. 


84  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

free  which  have  become  the  source  of  greatest  blessing  to  the 
church.  These  "  unlearned  people  and  laymen "  have  had 
indeed  for  a  long  time  to  endure  very  disdainful  treatment, 
but  their  courageous  faith  and  their  self-sacrifice  have  put  the 
theologians  to  shame,  and  the  ability  of  many  of  them  has 
given  proof  that  the  blessing  of  success  is  not  bound  up  with 
a  regular  call  of  the  church  and  a  university  education. 
Pietism  and  Methodism  broke  through  the  old  rigid  dogma 
of  "  a  call,"  by  giving  practical  effect  to  the  good  evangelical 
doctrine  of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers,  or  rather  to 
the  universal  obligation  of  service  resulting  from  it,  namely, 
that  every  living  Christian  possesses  function  and  gift  to  be  a 
worker  for  God,  and  that  the  call  of  God  to  the  work  of  His 
kingdom  is  not  bound  by  ordinances  of  men.  On  the  basis 
of  this  intuition  of  the  theology  of  the  revival  the  church  of 
the  Brethren  had  already  called  to  missionary  service  several 
laymen,  of  whose  inward  qualification  and  Divine  calling  they 
were  certified  by  prayer ;  and  the  missionary  societies,  founded 
after  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  followed  that  example 
everywhere  where  no  theologians  were  to  be  found.  Certainly 
the  appointment  of  "  unlearned  persons  and  laymen  "  to  service 
has  its  darker  aspects;  many  weak  even  incapable  subjects 
have  become  missionaries,  but  even  the  university  curriculum 
offers  no  absolute  guarantee  against  uselessness  in  missionary 
service,  as  e.g.  the  majority  of  the  Dutch  and  English  colonial 
clergy  proves.  At  first  not  much  pains  was  bestowed  on 
the  training  of  laymen  for  the  service  of  missions,  per- 
sonal conversion,  and  of  course  a  certain  measure  of  Bible 
knowledge,  being  regarded  as  the  materially  sufficient  prepara- 
tion. More  and  more,  however,  except  in  the  case  of  some 
missionary  organisations  with  a  specially  chiliastic  aim,  a 
comparatively  thorough  seminary  training  has  been  almost 
everywhere  introduced.  Most  missionary  societies  established 
missionary  schools,  in  which  the  plan  of  instruction  is  gradually 
becoming  more  and  more  scientific.  Only  in  America,  some 
English  Dissenting  communities,  and  the  Scottish  churches, 
did  the  theological  seminaries  supply  the  most  of  the 
missionaries. 

57a.  With  the  exception  of  the  Established  Church  of  Scot- 
land, in  no  Protestant  State  church  have  missions  been  from 
their  inception  the  concern  of  the  church.  In  Sweden  a  State 
church  mission  was  founded  in  1874,  alongside  of  the  free 
missions,  but  it  has  not  absorbed  these.  Only  in  a  number  of 
free  churches,  especially  in  America,  are  missions  the  affair  of 
the  church  as  such,  conducted  for  the  most  part  by  a  committee 
or  board,  which  is  responsible  to  the  Synod. 


THE  PRESENT  AGE  OF  MISSIONS  85 

57b.  Since  1834,  when  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Female 
Education  in  the  East "  was  founded  in  England,  unmarried 
women  have  been  appointed  to  missionary  service  (besides  the 
wives  of  missionaries)  as  teachers,  nurses,  doctors,  and  even  as 
evangelists,  and  that  in  growing  numbers  since  the  middle,  and 
particularly  since  the  seventh  decade,  of  last  century,  especially 
in  England  and  North  America.  Along  with  doctors,  whose 
employment  in  missionary  service  began  (first  in  America)  and 
increased  concurrently  with  that  of  women,  they  have  proved 
most  valuable  auxiliary  forces  in  the  mission  field.  Lay 
missionaries  came  for  the  most  part  out  of  secular  callings, 
and  accordingly  they  rendered  valuable  economic  service  as 
artisans,  agriculturists,  and  the  like.  In  more  recent  times, 
especially  since  the  number  of  missionaries  with  university 
training  increased,  and  ordained  missionaries  became  increas- 
ingly preoccupied  with  spiritual  work,  engineers,  artisans, 
agriculturists,  and  merchants  have  been  sent  out  as  un- 
ordained  lay  missionaries,  and  to  these  the  cultural  tasks 
inseparable  from  missions  have  been  specially  committed. 


CHAPTEE   V 

HISTORY  OF  THE  FOUNDATION  AND  GKOWTH 
OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES 

58.  Since  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  the  develop- 
ment of  missionary  life  at  home  has  been  really  accomplished 
in  the  history  of  the  foundation  and  growth  of  missionary 
societies.  Of  this  let  us  now  attempt  to  give  a  survey.  We 
must,  however,  confine  ourselves  to  the  principal  societies.  For 
in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  number  of  Protestant 
missionary  societies  has  so  largely  increased,  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  specify  them  all  with  absolute  certainty,  especially  as 
almost  every  year  new  ones  are  added.1 

To  make  the  survey  of  this  vast  home  apparatus  for 
missionary  work  as  clear  as  possible,  let  us  arrange  it  chrono- 
logically according  to  countries,  and  begin  with  the  country 
from  which  the  missions  of  the  nineteenth  century  took  their 
rise,  and  in  which  they  are  most  energetically  maintained, 
principally  because  it  has  the  largest  colonial  possessions. 

Section  1. — England. 

59.  On  the  2nd  October  1792,  at  the  call  of  Win.  Carey, 
twelve  Baptist  preachers  joined  at  Kettering  in  Northampton- 
shire to  found  the  Baptist  Society  for  Propagating  the 
Gospel  among  the  Heathen  (B.  M.  S.).  Already  since  17G4 
the  first  missionary  prayer  meetings  had  been  held  in  a  little 
circle  of  devout  Baptists  under  the  guidance  of  the  Rev. 
Andrew  Fuller,  afterwards  the  intimate  friend  of  Carey.  The 
impulse  to  these  was  given  through  the  reading  of  a  little 
tract  by  Jonathan  Edwards,  published  in  1747  :  An  humble 

1  Summary  reviews  of  these  societies  may  be  found  in  Bliss,  The  Encyclo- 
p  edict  of  Missions,  2nded.,  New  York,  1904;  Gundert,  Die  Erangelische  Mission, 
Hire  Lander,  Vblker,  und  Arbciten,  4th  ed.,  Calw.  1903.  Unfortunatelythe.se 
lists  include  many  effete  societies,  as  well  as  certain  auxiliary  societies,  which 
cannot  be  regarded  as  independent  missions.  The  same  is  the  case  with 
Dennis,  Centennial  Survey  of  Foreign  Missions,  New  York,  1902;  and  Beach, 
A  (Geography  and  Atlas  of  Protestant  Missions,  vol.  ii.,  New  York,  1903. 

86 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES      87 

attempt  to  promote  an  explicit  agreement  and  visible  union  of 
God's  people  for  the  revival  of  religion,  and  the  advancement  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  the  earth.  Then  followed  Carey's  Inquiry, 
already  noticed,  and  the  decision  was  reached  in  his  world- 
famed  sermon  on  Isaiah  liv.  2  and  3.  Carey  offered  himself 
as  the  first  missionary.  His  original  intention  to  go  to  Tahiti, 
to  which  he  was  moved  by  the  narratives  of  Cook's  voyages, 
was  changed  through  a  ship  surgeon,  Thomas,  who  had  re- 
turned from  India,  where  of  his  own  motive  he  had  done 
occasional  mission  work,  with  the  result  that  India  was  chosen 
as  the  first  field  for  the  labours  of  the  young  society.  The 
intolerance  of  the  East  India  Company,  however,  compelled 
the  beginning  of  mission  work  in  the  Danish  province  of 
Serampore,  and  it  was  not  till  after  more  than  ten  years  that 
the  work  was  first  permitted  in  British  territory.  Men  such 
as  Ward,  Marshman,  and  Yates  followed.  As  early  as  1809 
there  appeared  the  complete  Bengali  translation  of  the  Bible, 
done  by  Carey,  who  had  a  gift  of  languages,  the  first  of  his 
extensive  literary — mainly  linguistic — works,  which  admittedly 
do  not  all  merit  the  excessive  praise  which  was  formerly 
lavished  upon  them.  (According  to  Smith,  p.  238,  Carey  trans- 
lated the  Bible,  or  parts  of  the  Bible,  into  thirty-four  lan- 
guages !)  To  Hindostan,  where  in  time  the  field  of  the  Baptists 
extended  to  the  north,  west,  and  south,  were  added  Ceylon 
in  1811,  in  1813  Jamaica  and  other  West  Indian  Islands,  in 
1840  West  Africa  (Fernando  Po,  the  Cameroons,  Congo),  China 
in  1859,  and  Palestine  in  1885.  In  India,  besides  Carey,  the 
German  Wenger  in  particular  won  celebrity  by  his  linguistic 
labours,  particularly  in  Sanscrit ;  in  Jamaica,  Burchell  and 
Knibb  were  specially  conspicuous  as  champions  of  slave- 
emancipation  ;  Saker  in  the  Cameroons,  and  Grenfell,  Comber, 
and  Bentley  on  the  Congo,  did  eminent  service.  The  income 
of  the  society  now  reaches  in  round  figures  x  £90,000  ($432,000), 
but  hardly  suffices  to  cover  its  growing  needs.  The  number  of 
missionaries2  is  150  (+  50);  that  of  native  communicants,  i.e. 
of  actual  church  members 3  admitted  to  the  Lord's   Supper 

1  I  give  the  statistical  statement  in  round  figures,  as  they  are  annually 
changing.  In  the  present  connection  they  must  serve  to  furnish  only  an 
approximate  standard  for  the  position  of  the  societies  to-day. 

2  In  the  statistics  of  mission  workers  I  understand  throughout  by  mission- 
aries only  male  missionaries,  not  including — as  is  unhappily  becoming  more  and 
more  customary  in  American,  and  even  in  English,  statistics — the  wives  of 
missionaries.  On  the  other  hand,  I  enumerate  in  the  statistics  unmarried 
female  missionaries,  where  their  number  can  be  ascertained,  by  stating  their 
number  alongside  that  of  the  male  missionaries,  but  within  brackets  with  a  + . 
In  the  number  of  male  missionaries  the  unordained  are  also  included. 

3  In  the  English  and  American  statistics  only  the  number  of  communicants 
— separate  church   members   entitled  to   partake   of   the    Lord's   Supper — is 


88  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

(including  the  West  Indies,  where  the  principal  field,  Jamaica, 
alone  includes  39,200),  55,000.  The  organ  of  the  society  is  the 
Missionary  Herald  of  the  Baptist  M.  S.1 

60.  Far  more  deeply  than  the  founding  of  the  Baptist  M.  S. 
did  that  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  (L.  M.  S.)  stir 
Christian  circles  at  home.  Enthusiasm  had  been  kindled 
amongst  clergymen  and  laymen  in  the  Episcopal  church  and 
in  Dissenting  communities  by  a  series  of  truly  edifying  letters 
to  "  Lovers  of  the  Gospel,"  which  Dr.  Bogue  opened  with  a 
paper  in  the  Evangelical  Magazine  of  August  1794;  and  a 
powerful  appeal  had  already  been  made  to  the  conscience  of 
the  clergy  through  Home's  Letters  on  Missions.  On  21st  Sep- 
tember 1795  the  first  preliminary  meeting  was  held,  at  which 
it  was  affirmed  "  that  an  earnest  unity  of  spirit  with  the  aim 
of  undertaking  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  heathen  had  pre- 
vailed not  only  in  the  present  assembly,  but  amongst  devout 
Christians  throughout  the  whole  island."  Thereupon  the 
institution  of  a  society  was  unanimously  resolved  upon,  "in 
order  to  send  missionaries  to  heathen  and  unenlightened 
countries."  "  An  affecting  feeling  of  gladness  took  possession 
of  the  hearts  of  many  when  this  weighty  resolution  was  taken. 
As  soon  as  emotion  permitted  of  speech,  Dr.  Eyre  read  the 
outline  of  a  scheme  which  on  the  following  day  was  to  be 
submitted  to  the  whole  assembly."  On  the  three  following 
days  six  solemn  services  were  held  in  different  London 
churches,  at  which  sermons  were  preached  to  large  audiences 
with  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power.  The  char- 
acteristic feature  of  the  founding  of  this  society,  which  was 
called  simply  "The  Missionary  Society,"  was  the  association 
of  ministers  and  laymen  from  the  Independents,  Presbyterians, 
Methodists,  and  Episcopalians.  "  The  petty  differences  of 
names  and  forms  among  us,"  said  Dr.  Haweis  in  his  powerful 
sermon  on  Mark  xvi.  15  ff.,  "and  the  differences  of  church 
government,  must  be  swallowed  up  to-day  in  the  greater, 
nobler,  more  significant  name  Christians,  and  our  only  en- 
deavour shall  be,  not  to  further  the  views  of  any  one  particular 
sect,  since  Christ  is  not  divided,  but  with  united  effort  to  make 
known  afar  the  majesty  of  His  Person,  the  completeness  of 

generally  given.  The  number  of  Christians  is  about  three  to  three  and  a  half 
times  as  great,  often  greater. 

1  Cox,  History  of  the  B.  M.  S.,  London,  1842.  Underhill,  Christian  Missions 
in  the  Hast  and  Westin  connection  with  the  Baft.  M.  S.,  London,  1862.  Myers, 
Centenary  of  the  B.  M.  &'.,  London,  1892.  Tim  General  Baptists  united  with  the 
B.  M.  S.  in  1S91  ;  the  missions  (instituted  1S61)  of  the  so-called  Strict  Baptist  i 
are  unimportant.  That  the  B.  M.  S.,  like  all  the  larger  English  and  American 
missionary  societies,  has  an  active  auxiliary  in  a  ladies'  association  may  here 
at  once  be  noted. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       89 

His  work,  the  wonders  of  His  grace,  and  the  exceeding 
blessings  of  His  redemption,"  a  declaration  which  was  then 
expressly  embodied  in  the  rules.  As  the  primary  mission 
field,  under  the  influence  of  the  narratives  of  Cook,  the 
South  Sea  was  decided  upon.  From  the  large  number  of 
those  who  offered  themselves  for  missionary  service,  29 
men  were  chosen,  amongst  them  4  ordained  clergymen,  1 
surgeon,  and  the  rest  artisans.  A  special  missionary  ship — 
the  Duff — was  bought  for  £5000  ($24,000),  and  as  early  as 
the  10th  of  August  1796  it  sailed  under  the  command  of  good 
Captain  Wilson,  followed  by  the  prayers  of  thousands,  and 
on  the  4th  of  March  1798  it  cast  anchor  off  Tahiti.  After 
initial  unsuccess  and  many  painful  experiences,  this  South 
Sea  Mission  found  its  way,  especially  under  the  leadership  of 
John  Williams,1  with  augmenting  triumph  from  group  to  group 
of  islands,  and  now  numbers  on  seven  of  these  about  22,000 
communicants  (50,000  adherents).  In  1798,  South  Africa  was 
occupied,  where  the  missionaries  van  der  Kemp,  Philips, 
Moffat,2  and  Livingtone 3  have  been  specially  prominent ;  in 
1804,  India,  where  Lacroix,  Mullens,  and  Sherring  were  con- 
spicuous ;  in  1807,  China,  where  Morrison,  Milne,  Medhurst, 
Legge  did  pioneer  work  in  the  language.  British  Guiana 
(1807)  and  Jamaica  (1835)  are  no  longer  in  connection  with 
the  society.  In  the  former  some  independent  congregations 
still  continue,  and  in  the  latter  an  independent  "  Jamaica 
Congregational  Union  "  has  been  constituted.  Also  in  South 
Africa  there  exists  independently  of  the  society  a  similar 
Congregational  Union,  which  includes  26,000  communicants 
(70,000  adherents).  The  most  important  field  of  the  society's 
work,  however,  was  Madagascar,  occupied  in  1820,  where 
the  London  M.  S.  before  the  outbreak  of  the  French  war 
numbered  62,800  communicants,  a  number  which  has  since 
been  greatly  reduced  (now  only  30,400),  partly  by  the  coercion 
practised  in  connection  with  the  Eoman  Catholic  counter- 
mission,  and  partly  by  the  transfer  of  many  congregations  to 
the  Paris  M.  S.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Tanganyika  Mission, 
begun  in  1879,  has  proved  an  almost  entire  failure,  notwith- 
standing great  sacrifice  of  money  and  life,  while  the  New 
Guinea  Mission,  undertaken  in  1871,  under  the  capable  direc- 
tion of  Murray,  Macfarlane,  Lawes,  and  Chalmers,  has  developed 
very  hopefully.  Unhappily  the  income  of  the  society  does  not 
keep  pace  with  its  growing  expenditure ;  it  amounts  to  about 

1  Prout,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  the  Rev.  J.  Williams,  London,  1843. 

2  Moffat,    Missionary    Labours    and    Scenes    in    South    Africa,    London, 
1842. 

3  Blaikie,  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone,  London,  1880. 


90  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

£150,000  ($720,000).  In  its  service  there  are  at  present  215 
(+  70)  missionaries;  the  total  number  of  communicants  can- 
not be  given  with  certainty,  owing  to  the  imperfect  statistics, 
of  the  society.  The  report  for  1904  mentions  only  80,000,x 
but  the  details  are,  as  usual,  very  imperfect.  It  seems  as 
if  not  only  does  the  management  of  its  mission  work  leave 
something  to  be  desired,  but  the  missionary  zeal  of  the  Inde- 
pendent congregations  in  England  is  somewhat  flagging.  Their 
doctrine  of  independence  has  occasioned  many  a  mistake,  in 
imposing  a  premature  independence  on  congregations  of  im- 
mature native  Christians.  While  the  society  has  generally 
accomplished  splendid  pioneer  service,  it  has  often  been  lacking 
in  the  patient  upbuilding  of  the  assembled  congregations. 
Organ  :  The  Chronicle  of  the  London  M.  Soc.2 

61.  The  interdenominational  character  of  the  society  was  not 
of  long  duration.  As  time  went  on  the  Independent  element 
gradually  preponderated,  and  for  a  long  time  now  the  London 
Missionary  Society  has  been  almost  exclusively  Independent. 
The  Episcopalians  were  the  first  to  branch  off  from  it.  The 
more  deeply  the  new  spiritual  life  struck  its  roots  amongst 
them  also,  the  stronger  did  the  desire  for  a  Church  Mission  of 
their  own  become.  The  idea  of  founding  a  Church  Missionary 
Society  ripened  in  two  small  circles  of  believing  pastors  and 
laymen,  which  soon  came  together  into  one — the  Eclectic 
Society  and  the  so  nick-named  Clapham  Sect;  John  Venn, 
John  Morton,  and  Charles  Simeon  being  the  leaders  in  the 
first,  and  William  Wilberforce  in  the  second.  The  establish- 
ment of  a  penal  colony  in  South  Australia,  the  founding  of 
the  philanthropic  Sierra  Leone  Company,  and  the  struggles 
against  the  maladministration  of  the  East  Indian  Company, 
directed  the  view  of  these  circles  to  the  heathen ;  and  since 
their  views  of  State  church  doctrine  and  constitution  did  not 
permit  their  accession  to  the  Baptist  or  Independent  societies, 
there  came  together,  on  12th  April  1797,  26  men  who 
founded  the  "  Society  for  Missions  to  Africa  and  the  East,"  a 
designation  which,  in  order  to  make  yet  more  obvious  its  con- 
nection with  the  Episcopal  State  church,  was  altered  in  1812 
to  that  which  it  presently  bears,  "The  Church  Missionary 
Society  for  Africa  and  the  East "  (C.  M.  S.),  though  in  making 
this  alteration  it  was  explicitly  declared  that  friendly  relations 

1  Almost  every  statistical  table  shows  "  no  returns  "  ;  in  spite  of  this  the 
defective  numbers  are  added,  and  the  tyro  believes  that  he  has  before  him  the 
real  totals. 

2  Home,  The  Story  of  the  London  M.S.,  1795-1895,  London,  1894.  Cousins, 
Tltr  Story  of  the  South  Seas,  London,  1894.  Lovett,  The  Histonj  of  the  L.M.S., 
1795-1895,  London,  1899,  2  vols.  London  Miss.  Soc.  Missionary  Principles 
and  Plans,  by  the  Directors,  London,  1869. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       91 

with  other  Protestant  missionary  societies  were  to  be  main- 
tained,— a  statutory  provision  which  is  to  this  clay  also  observed 
in  practice.  In  its  beginnings  the  society  had  to  struggle  with 
extraordinary  difficulties.  Apart  from  the  general  disfavour 
under  which  it  had  to  s Litter,  missionaries  were  wanting.  Out 
of  this  misfortune  they  were  helped  by  having  missionaries 
provided  from  two  German  mission  seminaries  ;  that  of  Janicke 
in  Berlin,  and  later  Basle,  to  the  number,  as  time  went  on,  of 
120  in  all,  among  whom  were  men  of  repute  like  Rhenius, 
Weitbrecht,  Leupold,  Pfander,  Kolle,  Johnsen,  Hinderer,  Schon, 
Kolle,  Gobat,  Krapf,  Eebmann.  But  what  was  much  worse 
was  that  the  Anglican  Episcopate  refused  co-operation.  Only 
in  1815  did  two  bishops  join  the  society,  and  in  1840  the  two 
had  become  only  nine.  Then  the  society  laid  great  weight 
upon  being  a  Church  Society,  and  since  the  constitution  of  the 
church  reserved  to  bishops  the  right  of  calling  and  ordination, 
and  their  jurisdiction  extended  over  the  church  workers  in  all 
fields.  Embarrassments  arose,  which  became  the  greater  as  in 
course  of  time  the  number  of  colonial  bishoprics  was  multiplied. 
Nearly  half  a  century  passed,  until  at  length  (1841)  the  wisdom 
of  the  gifted  secretary,  Henry  Venn,1  succeeded  in  establishing 
a  satisfactory  modus  vivendi  with  the  Episcopate,  carrying 
recognition  of  the  society  as  a  free  church  organisation  and 
the  maintenance  of  its  evangelical  principles.  The  latter 
especially  was  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  conflict  which 
the  society  had  to  wage  against  the  Tractarian  or  Ritualistic 
movement,  which  emanated  from  Oxford  in  the  thirties,  under 
the  leadership  of  Pusey,  Newman,  Manning,  etc.,  and  assumed 
ever  larger  proportions.  This  movement  took  a  very  serious 
Romanising  direction,  which  embarrassed  the  bishop  question 
in  many  ways.  In  this  conflict  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  was  a 
product  of  the  evangelical  revival,  became,  with  its  adherents, 
more  and  more  the  backbone  of  the  Evangelical  party,  and  in 
the  measure  in  which  this  party  broadened  and  deepened  the 
C.  M.  S.  grew  in  esteem  and  power.  New  revival  movements,  the 
Evangelistic  movement  following  the  visit  of  Moody  in  England, 
the  Mildmay  and  Keswick  Conferences,  and  later  the  Student 
Missionary  movement  emanating  from  Cambridge,  and  strength- 
ened from  America, — these,  in  connection  with  the  so-called 
"  faith  policy,"  that  no  properly  qualified  candidate  who  offered 
himself  should  be  rejected  out  of  consideration  for  the  financial 
situation,  and  with  the  new  colonial  political  era,  which  was 
energetically  utilised  for  the  expansion  of  missions,  have 
procured  to  the  C.  M.  S.  within  the  latest  decades  a  simply 
magnificent  advance. 

1  Knight,  The  Missionary  Secretariat  of  Henry  Venn,  London,  1880. 


92  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Since  1841  the  number  of  bishops  who  have  identified 
themselves  with  this  society  has  steadily  increased,  although 
since  then  conflicts  also  have  not  been  wanting.  To-day  the 
four  archbishops  and  almost  all  the  bishops,  home  and  colonial,1 
belong  to  it,  of  whom  several,  however,  seem  to  figure  only  as 
ornaments.  With  all  the  value  which  the  society  sets  upon 
episcopal  polity,  it  yet  represents  down  to  the  present  time 
the  evangelical  tendency  in  Anglicanism,  and  on  the  basis  of 
its  evangelical  catholicity  it  maintains  a  position  of  brotherly 
kindliness  and  courtesy  towards  other  missionary  societies,  in 
which  respect  it  shows  to  great  advantage  as  distinguished  from 
the  High  Church  Propagation  Society. — In  1825  a  Missionary 
Seminary  was  called  into  existence  in  Islington,  London,  from 
which,  until  to-day,  upwards  of  500  missionaries  have  gone 
forth.  During  the  last  half  century  an  ever-increasing  number 
of  clergymen  and  probationers  have  put  themselves  at  the 
disposal  of  the  society,  so  that  for  some  decades  it  has  worked 
almost  preponderatingly  with  missionaries  of  university  training. 
The  methods  of  the  society  are  sound,  its  organisation  is 
practical,  its  administration  is  wise. — Gradually  its  fields  of 
labour  have  extended  over  the  four  continents.  In  1804,  West 
Africa  was  occupied,  where  its  missions  have  stretched  from 
Sierra  Leone  to  Yorubaland  and  the  Niger  (Hinderer,  Townsend, 
Bishop  Crowther).  East  Africa  had  been  first  taken  possession 
of  through  Krapf  in  1844,  but  it  was  only  in  1874,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  and  the  explora- 
tions of  Stanley,  that  the  mission  entered  on  an  important 
development  on  the  coast  (Freretown)  and  in  the  interior 
(Uganda).  Alexander  Mackay  was  the  chief  pioneer  in  Uganda.2 
A  mission  was  begun  in  Mauritius  in  1856  ;  in  Egypt  in  1882. 
In  India,  where  the  society  has  its  largest  field  of  work,  ex- 
tending almost  through  the  whole  great  empire,  missions  were 
established  in  1813  (Fenn,  Noble,3  Fox,  Baker,  Sargent,  French,4 
Eob.  Clark5),  in  Ceylon  in  1818,  in  China  (Wolfe)  in  1845,  in 
Japan  (Bickersteth)  in  1869,  in  Persia  (Bruce)  in  1875,  in 
Palestine  as  early  as  1857.  New  Zealand  (Marsden)  was  entered 
in  1814,  and  British  North  America  (Horden6)  in  1823.  The 
statistical  result  of  the  work  of  this  greatest  of  evangelical 

1  In  1897  the  Church  of  England  had  91  colonial  and  missionary  bishops 
{Intelligencer,  1897,  481,  "  The  Colonial  and  Missionary  Episcopate  "),  a  number 
which  has  now  probably  increased  beyond  a  hundred.  Of  the  missionaries  of 
the  C.  M.  S.,  37  had  up  to  1897  become  bishops. 

2  A.  Mackay  of  Uganda,  by  his  Sister,  London,  1890. 

8  J.  Noble,  A  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Noble,  London,  1868. 

4  Birks,  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Thos.  V.  French,  London,  1896. 

5  G.  M.  Intelligencer,  1900,  513. 

6  Batty,  Forty-two  Years  amongst  the  Indians  and  Eskimo.  Pictures  from 
the  Life  of  F.  Horden,  London,  1893. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES      93 

missionary  societies  amounted  in  1904  to  307,000  baptized  and 
catechumens,  amongst  them  89,000  communicants.  Its  scholars 
number  in  all  130,000  ;  410  ordained  and  155  lay  missionaries 
are  in  its  .service,  besides  400  unmarried  women  and  360 
ordained  native  pastors.  Its  total  income,  which  in  1805 
stood  at  £1182  ($5674);  in  1855,  at  £114,343  ($548,846),  now 
amounts  to  about  £400,000  ($1,920,000).  Organs  :  Church  Miss. 
Intelligencer ;  G.  31.  Gleaner,  and  its  voluminous  Annual  Eeport.1 
Associated  with  the  O.  M.  S.  there  is  a  very  active  "  Church  of 
England  Zenana  Missionary  Society  "  (founded  1880),  which 
has  an  annual  income  of  about  £50,000  ($240,000). 

62.  At  the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  especially 
since  the  Tractarian  movement,  the  old  "  Society  for  the  Pro- 
pagation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  "  (S.  P.  G.)  began  to 
revive,  and  step  by  step  undertook  an  ever-widening  missionary 
work  among  the  heathen,  with  which,  however,  it  continued  to 
combine  a  pastoral  care  for  the  British  colonists  ;  and  in  its 
reports  the  former  is  often  hardly  distinguished  from  the  latter. 
More  and  more  decidedly  has  this  society  become  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  principles  of  the  High  Church  or  Eitualistic 
tendency  in  the  Church  of  England,  and  it  is  even  setting  up 
the  claim  to  be  the  only  representative  of  the  missions  of  the 
church.  The  chief  direction  of  its  affairs  lies  in  the  hands 
of  its  bishops  ;  the  London  Committee  is  essentially  only  the 
collecting  centre  and  headquarters  of  the  very  active  work 
which  is  carried  on  by  word  and  writing  in  exciting  missionary 
interest  at  home.  The  society  pursues  with  great  zeal  the 
erection  of  new  bishoprics,  in  which  it  sees  almost  the  universal 
medium  of  missionary  work,  and  by  virtue  of  which  it  deems 
itself  warranted,  as  the  representative  of  "  The  Church,"  "  to 
build  on  foreign  ground  everywhere."  By  doing  so  it  has 
caused  much  confusion,  and  it  stands  on  friendly  footing 
with  really  not  a  single  Protestant  missionary  society,  but 
has  more  than  once  played  into  the  hands  of  Eome.  The 
advance  of  its  income  from  £2500  ($12,000)  in  1791,  to 
£6400  ($30,720)  in  1801,  and  to  £12,858  ($61,718)  in  1821, 
shows  that  the  society  has  developed  a  progressive  activity. 
After  the  establishment  of  a  bishopric  in  Calcutta  and  a  kind 
of  Episcopal  Missionary  Seminary,  which,  however,  notwith- 
standing the  zeal  of  the  second  bishop,  Heber,2  did  not  continue, 
the  S.  P.  G.  sent  its  first  missionaries  to  India,  where  Caldwell 

1  Stock,  The  History  of  the  C.  AT.  S. :  Its  Environment,   its  Men,  and  its 
Work,  London,   1899.      A  standard  work  which   takes  a   foremost  place  in 

historical  missionary  literature.  A  good  informing  survey  of  all  the  mission 
fields  of  the  society  is  added  to  the  text  of  the  G.  M.  Atlas,  8th  ed.,  189G. 

2  G.  Smith,  Bishop  Heber,  London,  1895. 


94  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

was  specially  eminent  amongst  its  labourers  ;  it  then  gradually 
occupied  not  only  all  those  fields  in  which  English  colonial 
bishoprics  have  been  established  (particularly  North  and 
Central  America,  the  West  Indies,  Guiana,  South  Africa, 
Central  Australia,  New  Zealand,  Ceylon,  Burma),  but  it 
installed  missionary  bishops  also  in  Borneo,  China,  Japan, 
Korea,  and  intruded  them  even  on  Hawaii,1  Fiji,  and  Mada- 
gascar. At  present,  it  is  working  in  about  60  Anglican  dioceses 
in  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  but  reliable  statistics  concerning 
it  are  not  to  be  had,  partly  because  the  colonial  work  is  not 
separated  in  the  reports  from  the  mission  work  proper,  and 
partly  because  the  annual  reports  contain  for  the  most  part 
only  aphoristic  statements.  The  total  number  of  its  English 
"  priests "  amounts  (including  10  bishops)  to  about  780,  of 
whom,  however,  scarcely  350  (+  80)  may  be  missionaries 
proper.  For  many  of  its  workers  the  society  only  needs  to 
provide  a  portion  of  their  salary,  the  rest  is  supplied  from  the 
resources  of  the  Colonial  Church.  The  income  amounts  to 
about  £125,000  ($600,000).  The  number  of  native  Christians 
in  its  care  can  scarcely  be  ascertained,  for  this  reason  besides 
those  already  given,  that  it  is  partly  included  in  the  Church 
statistics  of  the  organised  Anglican  dioceses.  If  these  Church 
statistics  are  taken  into  account, — and  this  is  the  only  possible 
way, — the  number  probably  exceeds  300,000.  Organ :  The 
Mission  Field? 

63.  In  connection  with  the  S.  P.  G-.  stands  the  Cambridge 
Mission  to  Delhi  (founded  1876),  with  9  missionaries  (Organ : 
Delhi  Mission  News),  and  the  Dublin  University  Mission  (11 
missionaries),  which  also  works  in  India  (Hasaribagh  and 
Eanchi).  Of  the  latter  mission  another  branch  with  5  mis- 
sionaries is  at  work  in  Fukien  in  China  under  the  C.  M.  S. 
Common  organ  :  The  Dublin  University  Missionary  Magazine. 

There  are,  further,  in  close  relationship  with  the  S.  P.  G. 
the  following  Eomanising  brotherhoods :  (1)  The  Oxford  Mis- 
sion to  Calcutta,  founded  in  1881,  now  called  The  Oxford 
Brotherhood  of  the  Epiphany,  with  10  brothers  in  Calcutta 
and  Barrisal  bound  to  celibacy,  an  income  of  £700  ($3360),  and 
a  quarterly  paper  as  organ.  (2)  The  Order  of  the  Cowley 
Fathers  of  the  Society  of  St.  John  the  Evangelist,  in  Bombay 
and  Poona  in  India  (founded  1865).  (3)  A  Korean  Missionary 
Brotherhood  of  the  Society  of  the  Sacred  Mission  (founded  1871) 

1  Since  1902,  Hawaii  has  been  made  over  to  the  American  (Protestant  Epis- 
copal) Church. 

2  Classified  Digest  of  the  Records  of  the  S.  P.  O.,  1701-1892,  5  th  ed.,  London, 
1896.  The  Spiritual  Expansion  of  the  Empire,  London,  1900.  The  Bicentenary 
of  the  S.  P.  G.  Intelligencer,  1900,  p.  321. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES      95 

with  few  missionaries,  and  apparently  without  any  proper  organ. 
Finally,  there  are  also  four  Sisterhoods,  resembling  Orders,  to 
be  reckoned,  but  their  personnel  is  likewise  insignificant. 

We  add  here,  forthwith,  the  other  missionary  societies  of  the 
Anglican  Church.  First,  there  is  the  South  American  Mis- 
sionary Society,  associated  with  the  evangelical  party ;  it  is 
a  continuation  of  the  Patagonian  mission  begun  in  1844  by 
the  well-known  Allen  Gardiner,  which  ended  so  tragically. 
Since  1851  it  has  expanded  into  a  South  American  Missionary 
Society,  which  works,  however,  amongst  English  immigrants  and 
seamen,  as  well  as  amongst  the  native  Eoman  Catholics.  The 
field  of  its  work  among  the  heathen  is  in  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and 
among  the  Indians  in  Southern  Chili,  where  it  has  12  mission- 
aries in  its  service.  Of  its  total  income  of  £15,500  ($74,400) 
it  expends  about  £5500  ($26,400)  upon  its  mission  to  the 
heathen,  the  statistical  result  of  which  is  still  very  small  (about 
250).     Organ  :  The  South  American  Magazine. 

Secondly,  there  is  the  Melanesian  Mission,  which  is  associ- 
ated, but  not  exclusively,  with  the  High  Church  tendency  in 
Anglicanism.  It  was  founded  in  1841  by  Bishop  Selwyn  of 
New  Zealand,  and  became  very  widely  known  through  its 
martyr,  Bishop  Patteson.  It  is  a  work  carried  on  by  the 
Colonial  Church  at  New  Zealand  ;  the  committee  existing  for 
its  behoof  in  England  has  only  the  significance  of  an  auxiliary 
society,  contributing  a  portion  of  the  cost  of  maintenance, 
£3900  ($18,720)  out  of  £8200  ($39,360).  The  characteristic 
feature  of  the  M.  M.  in  its  work  upon  the  Solomon,  Santa 
Cruz,  and  some  of  the  New  Hebrides  Islands,  is  that  it  is  a  ship- 
mission.  After  it  has  won  the  confidence  of  the  wild  islanders 
visited  by  it,  it  takes  young  natives,  trains  them  on  Norfolk 
Island,  and  then  plants  them  again  in  their  home  as  teachers 
amongst  their  countrymen,  where  they  are  visited  diligently  by 
the  English  missionaries.  Of  such  native  teachers  the  mission 
has  about  400,  among  them  11  ordained  ministers  in  its  service, 
along  with  12  English  missionaries.  The  number  of  baptized 
native  Christians  exceeds  12,000.x  Organ  :  The  Southern  Cross 
Log. 

The  extremely  High  Church  ritualistic  Universities  Mission 
to  Central  Africa  (U.  M.  C.  A.)  was  called  into  life  by  the 
impulse  received  from  Livingstone,  1859.  An  enterprise  in 
the  Shire  Highlands  under  Bishop  Mackenzie  came  to  nought, 
and  for  some  time  thereafter  the  work  centred  in  educational 
labour  in  Zanzibar  under  Bishop  Tozer,2  but  now  there  are  on 

1  Armstrong,  The  History  of  the  Melanesian  Mission,  London,  1900.     Yonge, 
Life  of  John  Patteson,  Miss.  Bishop  of  the  M.  M.,  London,  1874. 
'  2Ward,  Letters  of  Bishop  Tozer  and  his  Sister,  1863-1873,  London,  1902. 


g6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  mainland  (outside  of  Zanzibar)  two  districts  in  German  and 
in  Portuguese  East  Africa  occupied  by  the  missions.  In  the 
two  bishops,  Steere  and  Smythies,  it  possessed  gifted  and 
energetic  leaders;  Maples,1  who  followed  them,  a  missionary 
proved  by  several  years  of  work,  was  unhappily  drowned 
shortly  after  his  consecration  as  Bishop  of  Nyasa.  The  staff 
is  large,  but,  unhappily,  is  frequently  changing;  2  bishops, 
32  priests,  22  laymen,  52  ladies,  16  native  ministers,  all  un- 
married. The  number  of  baptized  native  Christians  is  about 
7000  (+  13,000  adherents),  that  of  scholars  about  5000, 
income  £34,500  ($168,600).2     Organ :  Central  Africa. 

64.  Amongst  the  Methodists  the  missionary  spirit  exhibited 
itself  in  vital  energy  from  the  beginning.  As  early  as  1744,  at 
the  prompting  of  Whitefield,  special  hours  of  prayer  were 
observed  "  for  the  outpouring  of  the  Divine  Spirit  upon  all 
Christian  churches,  and  over  the  whole  inhabited  earth,"  and 
from  1799  quite  a  number  of  preachers  from  the  ranks  of 
ministers  and  laymen  had  gone  to  North  America,  whose 
missionary  efforts  among  the  heathen  reached  as  far  as  the 
northern  boundaries  of  the  British  possessions.  The  Methodists, 
however,  developed  a  much  more  important  mission  work  in 
the  British  West  Indies,  where  Thomas  Coke  landed  in  1786. 
This  remarkable  man,  originally  a  clergyman  of  the  State 
Church,  was  from  1777  one  of  the  most  zealous  of  Wesley's 
preachers,  and  in  1784  was  sent  by  him  as  "superintendent  of 
the  flock  of  Christ "  to  North  America,  in  order  to  organise  the 
scattered  Methodist  societies  there  into  an  independent  church. 
Here — without,  and  indeed  against,  Wesley's  will — he  was 
consecrated  bishop,  and  became  the  founder  of  what  was  after- 
wards the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  with  fearless  courage 
he  interested  himself  in  the  negro  slaves,  a  course  which  drew 
upon  him  a  violent  persecution  on  the  part  of  the  slaveholders. 
In  1785  he  returned  to  England,  but  quitted  it  again  in  1786  in 
order  to  conduct  new  preachers  to  the  Methodists  in  Nova  Scotia. 
Fearful  storms,  however,  drove  the  ships  to  Antigua;  and 
Coke,  who  recognised  in  this  a  providential  leading,  remained 
in  the  West  Indies,  and  devoted  himself  with  ardent  zeal  to 
work  among  the  negro  slaves.  After  this  restless  man,  in 
whose  hands  the  missions  of  the  church  substantially  lay,  and 
at  whose  instigation  a  mission  had  been  begun  in  West  Africa 
in  1811,  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  eighteen  times,  he 
died  in  1814  on  a  journey  to  Ceylon,  where,  although  he  was 

1  Chauncey  Maples,  Pioneer  Missionary  in  East  Africa,  by  his  Sister, 
London,  1897. 

2  Anderson-Morshead,  The  History  of  (he-  Univ.  Mission  to  Central  Africa, 
London,  1899. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES       97 

sixty -six  years  of  age,  he  desired  to  found  the  third  Methodist 
mission.  Only  after  his  death  did  the  necessity  arise  for  the 
formation  of  a  special  missionary  society,  the  Wesleyan  M.  S. 
(W.  M.  S.),  which  bears  throughout  the  impress  of  the  Methodist 
organisation  that  forms  so  much  of  the  strength  of  this  de- 
nomination. Soon  after  the  society  gained  a  firm  footing  in 
Ceylon  (1814),  it  began,  side  by  side  with  the  London  Missionary 
Society  (Schmelen),  its  work  in  South  Africa  (B.  Shaw)  in 
1815  ;  in  1817,  on  the  mainland  of  India ;  in  1822,  in  the  South 
Sea,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  islands  of  Tonga  and  Fiji, 
where  John  Hunt  and  John  Calvert  were  specially  eminent, 
and  in  1851  in  China,  at  the  same  time  continuing  to  extend 
its  two  oldest  mission  fields,  the  West  Indies  and  West  Africa. 

The  three  most  important  of  these  mission  fields,  on  which 
missionary  work  proper  has  already  in  part  reached  its  goal, 
are  no  longer  under  the  London  management  of  the  Wesleyan 
M.  S.  The  South  Sea,  Fiji,  Samoa,  the  Bismarck  Archipelago 
and  British  New  Guinea,  with  in  all  40,600  communicants 
(+  130,000  adherents),  were  placed  under  the  Australian  Con- 
ference in  1854 ;  the  Kaffir  and  Bechuana  mission  (with  the 
exception  of  the  Transvaal,  Swaziland,  and  Mashonaland),  with 
in  all  over  50,000  communicants,  under  the  South  African  in 
1882 ;  and  the  West  Indies  (excepting  Honduras  and  the 
Bahama  islands),  with  48,000  communicants,  under  the  West 
Indian  in  1884.  Since  1903,  however,  the  last-named  has 
been  again  associated  with  the  mother  society  in  London,  as  it 
was  not  able  to  supply  the  necessary  means  for  its  own  support. 
To  the  mother  society,  accordingly,  there  now  remain  only 
Ceylon,  India,  China,  West  Africa,  and  some  Oceanic  and  South 
African  extensions,  and  all  the  West  Indies,  having  altogether 
some  80,000  native  Christian  communicants.  The  total  number 
of  missionaries  in  these  fields  now  reaches  about  300  (+  70), 
and  its  income  almost  £125,000  ($600,000).  Unhappily,  with 
all  their  great  zeal  and  good  organisation,  Methodist  missions 
are  frequently  lacking  in  sobriety  and  in  thoroughness  in  their 
work,  and  often  also  they  disturb  the  peace  by  unbrotherly 
intrusion  into  the  fields  of  other  societies.  Organ  :  Wesleyan 
Missionary  Notices} 

Let  us  here  at  once  mention  in  order  the  rest  of  the  more 
important  Methodist  missionary  societies.  The  Methodist 
New  Connexion  Missionary  Society,  founded  in  1824,  devoted 
itself  at  first  only  to  evangelistic  work  in  Ireland  and  Canada, 
until  it  entered  upon  missionary  work  proper  in  China  in  1859. 
It  maintains  9  missionaries  there,  has  2600  communicants, 
and  an  average  income  of  £3250  (816,800).  Organ  :  Gleanings 
1  Moister,  A  History  of  Wesl.  Missions,  Loudon,  1871,  3rd  ed. 

7 


98  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

in  Rawest  Fields. — The  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  Home 
and  Foreign  Miss.  Soc,  originated  in  1857,  besides  working 
amongst  the  English  population  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand, 
labours  in  China,  East  and  West  Africa,  and  Jamaica,  with  40 
missionaries,  has  11,000  communicants,  and  collects  yearly  for 
all  its  total  work  about  £15,750  ($75,600).  Amongst  its  pioneer 
missionaries  in  East  Africa,  New  and  Wakefield  are  well-known 
names. — The  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodists'  Foreign  Miss.  Soc, 
founded  in  1840,  conducts  with  11  missionaries  and  as  many 
native  ordained  missionaries,  a  mission  amongst  the  Khasi  in 
India  which  has  been  greatly  blessed,  and  has  about  4500 
communicants.  Its  annual  income  amounts  to  £8750  ($42,000).1 
— Lastly,  the  Primitive  Methodist  Miss.  Soc,  which  was 
founded,  indeed,  in  1843,  but  first  extended  its  work  to  the 
heathen  in  1869,  carries  on  a  missionary  work  of  no  great 
importance  in  Fernando  Po,  in  Cape  Colony,  and  amongst  the 
Muschukulumbs,  north  of  the  Zambesi.  12  missionaries,  1500 
native  Christians,  and  income  £6500  ($31,200).  Organ :  The 
Prim.  Meth.  Miss.  Record, — The  Sierra  Leone  M.  S.,  of  Lady 
Huntingdon's  Connexion,  in  existence  since  1792,  supports 
1  missionary  and  21  native  preachers,  but  does  not  seem  to  do 
any  further  mission  work  among  the  heathen.  Organ:  Thr 
Harbinger. 

65.  Before  passing  on  to  Presbyterian  Missions,  we  insert 
here  the  Quaker  Mission  (Friends'  For.  Miss.  Association), 
which,  however,  should  more  correctly  have  found  its  place 
after  the  Independent  Missions.  Private  missionary  work  had 
long  been  carried  on  on  the  part  of  single  members  of  Quaker 
congregations  ;  but  it  was  at  the  initiative  of  Ellis,  the  well- 
known  missionary  of  the  London  M.  S.,  who  enlisted  the  co- 
operation of  the  Friends  in  Madagascar,  that  there  missionary 
energy  came  to  be  organised  (1867).  That  island  has  continued 
to  be  the  principal  field  of  their  work,  whilst  it  has  also 
accomplished  only  small  results  in  India,  Ceylon,  China,  and 
Syria.  This  little  community,  numbering  only  20,000  mem- 
bers, has  38  (+  30)  missionaries  in  its  service,  and  raises 
yearly  about  £22,500  ($108,000).  Communicants  about  3000  ; 
adherents  over  13,000 ;  scholars  over  16,000  :  it  maintains 
also  10  hospitals  and  dispensaries.     Organ:  Our  Missions. 

In  1840  the  Irish  Presbyterian  Church,  and  in  1847  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  England,  founded  special  Presbyterian 

1  It  is  ako  designated  the  "Welsh  Presbyterian  M.  or  the  M.  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Wales,  and  is  therefore,  perhaps,  more  correctly  to  bo  reckoned 
among  Presbyterian  Missions.  [The  name  of  this  Church  is  due  to  the  con- 
nection of  its  origin  with  the  Methodist  revival,  but  the  Church  is  Presbyterian, 
and  enrolled  in  the  general  Presbyterian  Alliance. — Ei>.] 


FOUNDATION  AND   GROWTH   OF   MISSIONARY   SOCIETIES   99 

missions.  The  former  labours  with  33  ordained  missionaries 
in  India  (Gujerat  and  Kathiawar),  and  in  alliance  with  the 
Scottish  United  Free  Church  in  Manchuria ;  the  latter  in 
China  with  38  missionaries,  of  whom  the  first  to  be  sent  out, 
W.  C.  Burns,  has  become  the  best  known.  Both  carry  on 
missions  as  a  work  of  the  church ;  together  they  have  about 
16,000  communicants,  and  an  income  of  about  £50,000 
($240,000).  Organs  :  Miss.  Herald  of  the  Presb.  Oh.  of  Ireland, 
and  Monthly  Messenger  of  the  Presb.  Ch.  in  England.1 

66.  Much  more  important  are  the  Scottish  Presbyterian 
missions.  As  early  as  1796  there  were  called  into  life  the 
Glasgow  M.  S.  and  the  Scottish  M.  S.,  both  supported  by 
Christians  of  all  church  denominations.  In  that  same  year  the 
celebrated  debate  took  place  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
State  church  of  Scotland,  in  which,  on  the  overtures  of  two 
Synods  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen,  Mr.  Hamilton, 
seconded  by  Dr.  Carlyle,  contended  that  "  to  spread  abroad 
the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  amongst  barbarous  and  heathen 
nations  seems  to  be  highly  preposterous,  in  so  far  as  philo- 
sophy and  learning  must  in  the  nature  of  things  take  the 
precedence,  and  that  while  there  remains  at  home  a  single 
individual  without  the  means  of  religious  knowledge,  to  propa- 
gate it  abroad  would  be  improper  and  absurd."  The  proposal  to 
appoint  a  collection  for  missions  "  would  no  doubt  be  a  legal  sub- 
ject of  penal  prosecution."  Whereupon  the  venerable  Dr.Erskine 
rose,  and,  prefacing  his  reply  with  the  call  to  the  Moderator, 
"  Eax  me  that  Bible,"  then  read  aloud  the  words  of  Matthew 
xxviii.  18,  20,  which  burst  on  the  assembly  like  a  clap  of  thunder.2 

Both  those  societies  sent  missionaries  from  time  to  time 
to  Sierra  Leone,  where  Peter  Greig  was  murdered  by  the 
Fuhlas,  to  Cape  Colony,  Kaffraria,  India,  and  Jamaica,  but 
only  in  South  Africa  and  Jamaica  did  their  labours  leave  per- 
manent results.  When,  however,  Dr.  Inglis  brought  the  cause 
of  missions  before  the  General  Assembly  in  1824,  and  carried 
through  the  undertaking  of  a  State  Church  Mission,  in  the  first 
instance  to  India,  new  life  came  into  the  cause.3     In  1829,  Dr. 

1  [The  English  Presbyterian  Church  has  its  principal  mission  fields  in  South 
China,  Formosa,  and  single  stations  in  Singapore  and  Bengal.  The  European 
staff  numbers  25  ministerial  missionaries,  14  medical  missionaries,  5  missionary 
teachers,  3  lady  doctors,  and  26  lady  missionaries.  The  communicants  number 
8423  in  271  congregations,  with  36  native  pastors.  The  annual  income  is 
about  £20,000. — The  Irish  Presbyterian  Church  has  its  mission  fields  in  Gujerat 
and  in  Manchuria,  with  898  communicants  in  the  former,  and  5507  in  the 
latter.  Its  income  is  about  £18,000.  Its  staff  consists  of  31  (+  26)  mission- 
aries, of  whom  7  are  medical. — Ed.] 

2  Graham,  as  cited,  p.  91. 

3  Weir,  A  History  of  the  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  Edin- 
burgh, 1900. 


100  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Alex.  Duff  went  to  India  as  the  first  missionary  of  the  Scottish 
Church,  and  it  fell  to  that  eminent  man  not  only  to  break  open 
new  paths  for  missions  in  India,  hut  also  to  awaken  an  un- 
dreamt of  enthusiasm  for  missions  in  his  native  land.  The 
history  of  missionary  life  in  Scotland  is  indissolubly  linked  with 
his  name.1  In  the  measure  in  which  missionary  zeal  now  grew 
in  the  Scottish  Church,  both  the  old  societies  declined.  The 
Scottish  M.  S.  soon  gave  its  three  missionaries  in  India  to  the 
State  Church  ;  the  Glasgow  M.  S.  could  scarcely  support  itself, 
even  when  limited  to  South  Africa,  especially  as  in  1835  the 
Secession  Church  (afterwards  United  Presbyterian  Church) 
began  a  mission  of  its  own  to  Jamaica,  and  then  a  division  took 
place  which  led  to  the  founding  of  the  Glasgow  African  Society, 
which, however,  in  1847  joined  itself  to  the  United  Presbyterians. 
The  Scottish  State  Church  Mission,  which  had  in  its  service  dis- 
tinguished men  (besides  Duff,  e.g.  Mitchell,  Nesbit,  and  Wilson2), 
applied  itself  in  India  (Calcutta,  Madras,  Bombay)  especially 
to  the  work  of  higher  education ;  in  South  Africa  it  had  five 
stations  among  the  Kaffirs,  amongst  these  Lovedale,  which  has 
since  become  so  celebrated,  where  as  early  as  1841  a  Missionary 
Seminary  for  natives  was  established. 

67.  Then  in  1843  came  the  Disruption,  which  led  to  the 
formation  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and,  far  from 
crippling  missionary  energy  in  Scotland,  speedily  multiplied  it 
more  than  tenfold.  All  the  missionaries  of  the  State  Church 
in  India  and  Kaffraria  went  over  to  the  Free  Church.  The 
great  financial  pressure  which  was  imposed  upon  the  young 
Free  Church  by  the  loss  of  all  mission  property,  and  by  the 
care  of  the  missionaries  who  were  left  without  means  of  support, 
was  soon  surmounted  by  an  amazing  liberality,  which  Dr.  Duff, 
recalled  home  for  the  organising  of  the  work,  knew  how  to 
stimulate.3     Thus    there  were  now  in    Scotland  two  church 

1  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  Alex.  Duff,  London,  1879,  2  vols. 

2  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  John  Wilson ;  for  Fifty  Years  Philanthropist  and 
Scholar  in  the  Fast,  London,  1878. 

3  In  No.  1  of  tho  Free  Church  Monthly  and  Missionary  Record  (1882),  there 
18  reprinted  an  intensely  fascinating  extract  from  Thomas  Brown's  Annals  of 
the  Disruption  (III.)  on  "The  Missionaries  of  1843,"  of  which  I  give  the  sub- 
stance, as  characteristic  alike  of  the  Scottish  missionaries  of  that  time,  and  of  the 
strong  spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  was  associated  with  the  formation  of  the 
Free  Church.  The  Scottish  Church  in  the  beginning  of  1843  had  about  20 
missionaries,  many  of  them  eminent,  amongst  the  Jews  and  heathen,  and  much 
anxiety  was  felt  in  circles  at  home  as  to  how  these  would  bear  themselves 
towards  the  Disruption.  From  the  standpoint  of  calculating  prudence,  every- 
thing told  against  their  joining  the  Free  Church,  and  the  Moderate  party,  as 
well  as  the  Evangelical  party,  had  despatched  earnest  warnings,  especially  to 
India  to  guard  the  missionaries  from  joining  it,  since  the  Free  Church  was 
utterly  unable  to  do  anything  for  foreign  missions,  as  the  sacrifice  required  . -it 
home  already  exceeded  "its  power.     If,  notwithstanding,  thoy  should  do  it,  then 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    IOI 

missions,  that  of  the  Established  Church  (E.  Ch.  Sc.),  and  that 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  (F.  Ch.  Sc.) ;  for  the  latter  also 

they  must  do  it  with  the  loss  of  all  mission  property,  which,  as  matter  of  course, 
remained  with  the  State  Church.  The  first  to  decide  were  the  Jewish  mission- 
aries. With  one  heart  they  gladly  went  over  to  the  Free  Church.  The  men 
were  gained,  whilst  all  the  money  was  lost.  There  were  £3500  ($14,700)  in  the 
treasury.  The  proposal  to  share  it  equally  between  both  churches,  as  it  had 
been  contributed  by  the  members  of  both,  was  declined.  So  the  State  Church 
kept  all  the  money,  the  Free  Church  all  the  missionaries.  The  first  collection 
for  the  Jewish  mission  was  now  appointed,  and  it  realised  £3400  ($14,280).  But 
what  would  the  Indian  missionaries  do  ?  The  first  news  came  from  Dr.  Wilson 
from  Bombay.  That  accomplished  missionary  was  on  his  way  home  on  furlough 
when  the  tidings  of  the  formation  of  the  Free  Church  reached  him  in  Egypt. 
Forthwith  he  announced  his  adhesion.  In  July  the  missionaries  in  India 
itself  received  from  both  churches  the  intelligence  of  what  had  happened  at 
home.  They  unanimously  declared  their  adhesion  to  the  Free  Church.  The 
news  from  Calcutta,  Bombay,  and  Poonah  came  just  after  the  opening  of  the 
General  Assembly  in  Glasgow,  that  from  Madras  before  the  close  of  the  sittings. 
The  first  despatch  of  it  lay  at  the  bottom  of  the  Red  Sea,  where  the  steamer 
which  bore  it  had  foundered.  It  was  recovered  later  by  divers,  and  is  preserved 
to-day  as  a  peculiarly  interesting  document  in  the  missionary  archives  of  the 
Free  Church.  The  joy  in  the  General  Assembly  at  the  adhesion  of  all  the  Indian 
missionaries  was  extraordinary, — "  the  most  encouraging  event  in  the  beginning 
of  the  history  of  the  Free  Church. " 

Nevertheless,  it  was  not  easy  for  the  men  in  India,  particularly  for  Dr. 
Dull",  to  give  this  adhesion.  It  meant  severance  from  many  dear  friends,  "and 
only  a  heart  more  cold  and  dead  than  mine  can  take  such  a  step  without 
pain."  But  how  should  it  now  be  in  India  ?  Should  two  Presbyterian  churches 
be  in  rivalry  witli  each  other?  If  that  were  not  desirable,  then  either  Dr.  Duff 
must  leave  Calcutta,  or  the  Scottish  State  Church  must  seek  another  place  for 
its  mission  work.  Against  the  former  alternative,  missionaries  of  all  denomina- 
tions, and  all  the  Christian  congregations  of  Calcutta,  and  the  many  hundreds  of 
Duffs  pupils,  entered  the  most  resolute  protest ;  and  the  latter  was  as  decidedly 
declined  by  the  State  Church,  although  it  had  been  asked  to  go  to  Agra  or  Delhi. 
In  the  excitement  which  prevailed  at  home  it  was  resolved  rather  to  eject  Dr. 
Duff  and  his  colleagues  from  the  school  buildings  they  had  hitherto  occupied, 
and  this  decision  was  carried  out  even  iu  face  of  the  remonstrance  that  the 
buildings  had  been  erected  mainly  by  Duffs  energy,  that  the  contributions 
came  mostly  from  friends  who  now  belonged  to  the  Free  Church,  etc.  On  the 
9th  of  March  1844  a  police  officer  made  his  appearance,  and  demanded  the  keys 
of  the  schoolhouse  and  of  all  the  buildings  annexed  to  it.  Duff  handed  them 
over  to  him,  and,  stripped  of  everything,  left  with  a  heavy  heart  the  place  of 
his  blessed  labours. 

In  Bombay  the  case  was  similar.  A  new  and  large  building  had  just  been 
completed  there.  Not  only  this,  but  even  the  library  and  the  medical  cabinet, 
which  were  as  good  as  Dr.  Wilson's  private  property,  had  to  be  given  over,  in 
spite  of  all  the  remonstrances  of  the  friends  at  home  who  had  furnished  the 
means.     The  value  of  all  was  £8000  ($38,400). 

In  Madras,  more  fortunately,  the  premises  were  rented,  but  a  collection  of 
£500  ($2400)  just  gathered  was  in  the  hands  of  the  missionaries  there,  who, 
however,  declared  themselves  ready  to  return  their  contributions  to  the  donors  if 
they  desired  to  have  them  given  to  the  State  Church.    No  one,  however,  applied. 

Thus  the  missionaries  in  India  stood  utterly  poor  in  possessions,  but  not  poor 
in  faith.  And  their  faith  did  not  deceive  them.  Dr.  Duff  received  the  first  gift 
from  a  merchant  in  America,  £500  ($2400)  ;  the  second  from  a  physician  in 
Calcutta,  also  £500  ($2400).  Other  large  gifts  followed.  When  Duff  received 
the  American  contribution  he  sent  proportional  parts  of  it  to  Madras  and 
Bombay.  But  he  had  a  reply  from  Mr.  Anderson  :  "  Immediately  on  receipt  of 
your  letter  it  was  clear  to  me  that  I  must  take  nothing.  We  thank  the  donor 
as  much  as  you  do,  but  we  are  not  in  such  straits  as  you  are.  Give  us  your 
prayers,  but  keep  your  money  ;  we  have  enough,  my  brother," 


102 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


made  its  missions  the  concern  of  the  church  from  the  first.  In 
the  former,  although  the  mission  property  remained  to  it,  the 
continuance  of  mission  work  was  already  in  jeopardy  from  lack 
of  men  to  fill  the  places  that  had  become  empty,  and  a  con- 
troversy broke  out  whether  the  hitherto  educational  method 
should  not  be  replaced  by  an  evangelistic  method.  The  crisis, 
however,  was  overcome;  in  1845  new  missionaries  were  sent 
to  India,  where  an  endeavour  was  made  to  combine  the  educa- 
tional and  evangelistic  methods ;  in  1876  to  Central  Africa 
(Shire"  Highlands),  and  in  1877  to  China.  At  home,  also, 
earnestness  and  income  increased,  so  that  in  the  State  Church 
(656,000  members)  missionary  life  has  signally  grown  since 
1843.  The  number  of  its  European  missionaries  is  50  (  +  73), 
and  its  annual  income  over  £50,000  ($240,000).  Its  mission 
work  in  the  chief  cities  of  India  is  still  to-day  mainly  educa- 
tional, but  in  the  Punjaub,  Darjeeling,  etc.,  it  has  also  consider- 
able congregations.  The  Central  African  Mission  (Blantyre) 
grows  very  hopefully ;  in  China  little  has  as  yet  been  accom- 
plished. The  total  number  of  its  baptized  native  Christians  is 
12,700  ;  and  of  its  scholars,  about  16,000.  Organ  :  The  Church 
of  Scotland  Home  and  Foreign  Mission  Record ;  since  the  begin- 
ning of  1901,  Life  and  Work.  The  Church  of  Scotland  Maga- 
zine and  Missionary  Record. 

The  mission  work  of  the  Free  Church  is  more  important. 
As  a  result  of  the  admirable  home  organisation  in  congregational 
societies,  introduced  by  Duff,  the  income  of  the  Free  Church, 
with  only  about  361,000  communicants,  had  grown  in  1900  to 
over  £67,000  ($334,400).  The  total  number  of  male  mission- 
By  the  4th  of  January  1845,  Duff  had  a  larger  school  building  than  formerly, 
free  of  debt,  and  more  pupils  than  in  earlier  times — 1257.  Everything  else 
also,  library,  apparatus,  etc.,  were  soon  furnished  by  a  noble  liberality. 

But  more  than  all  that — the  missionary  spirit  spread  its  wings  more  strongly 
than  hitherto.  "Now,"  wrote  Dr.  "Wilson,  even  before  he  reached  Scotland, 
— "now  we  must  extend  our  work."  At  Nagpur,  in  India,  a  new  mission  was 
begun,  towards  which  an  official  in  Madras  gave  £500  ($2400). 

Shortly  afterwards  its  South  African  Mission  was  taken  over  from  the 
Glasgow  Society  and  extended.  Thus,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  sacrifices  which 
had  to  be  made  for  the  reorganisation  of  the  church  at  home,  the  contributions 
to  missions  grew  apace,  as  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following  table  of  the  mission- 
ary income  in  the  United  Scottish  Church  during  the  last  six  years  before  the 
Disruption,  and  that  in  the  Free  Church  alone  during  the  first  six  years  afteT 
the  Disruption.     There  was  received — 

In  the  Free  Church. 

£23,874,  about  $114,595 


In  the  United  State  Church. 


j  837 
1838 
L839 

1840 
1841 
1842 


£10,070,  about  .$48,336 


13,800 
14,353 
16,156 
17,588 
20,191 


Total  £92,158 


66,240 
68,894 

77,549 
84,422 
96,817 

$142,258 


1843-4 
1844-5 
1845-6 
1846-7 
1847-8 
1848-9 


35,526 
43,310 

43,327 
47,568 
49,214 


168,125 
207,890 
207,970 
216,326 
236,227 


Total   £2 12,819    $  1,1 51, 133 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    103 

aries  in  India,  Africa  (Kaffraria,  Natal,  Nyassa),  the  New 
Hebrides  (since  1876,  where  the  Eeformed  Presbyterians  joined 
their  missions  there  with  the  Free  Church),  Syria  and  Southern 
Arabia,  reached  [at  the  time  of  union  with  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church]  67 ;  including  the  unordained,  there  were 
118  male  missionaries,  besides  60  women.  The  number  of 
scholars  in  6  colleges  and  516  schools,  35,000  ;  that  of  com- 
municants, 11,500;  and  of  the  rest  of  the  baptized,  10,000. 
In  India  (Miller)  the  missions  of  the  Free  Church  still  lay 
main  stress  on  educational  work ;  and  in  South  Africa  also  it 
has  done  excellent  work  in  this  direction,  chiefly  by  means  of 
its  Lovedale  Institute,  which  is  also  an  industrial  school  (Dr. 
Stewart).  The  25-years-old  Livingstonia  or  Nyassa  Mission 
(Dr.  Laws)  was  flourishing  in  a  most  gladdening  way.1  Organ : 
The  Free  Church  of  Scotland  Monthly. 

68.  The  United  Presbyterian  Church  (U.  P.  Ch.)  in  Scotland, 
which  was  constituted  by  the  union  (1847)  of  the  Secession 
and  the  Belief  Church,  was  also  distinguished  for  its  great 
liberality.  With  a  total  membership  of  only  about  199,000, 
this  denomination  contributed  annually  for  its  ecclesiastical 
necessities  and  home  charities  about  £392,000  ($2,081,600); 
and  for  missions  alone,  which  it  makes  the  concern  of  the 
church,  £44,000  ($211,200).  Both  the  Secession  and  Eelief 
Churches  had  before  their  union  [through  separate  societies 2] 
begun  mission  work  in  the  "West  Indies,  and  from  thence  in 
West  Africa  (Old  Calabar)  and  in  Kaffraria,  but  only  after  the 
union  was  this  work  brought  into  organised  connection  with 
the  church ;  the  West  Indies  (Jamaica  and  Trinidad),  Old 
Calabar  and  Kaffraria,  North- West  India,  China  (properly 
Manchuria),  and  lastly,  in  union  with  the  American  Presby- 
terians, Japan,3  have  been  occupied.  These  missions  together 
include  over  95  male  missionaries,  and  more  than  30,000  com- 
municants, of  whom  the  majority  are  in  Jamaica,  Kaffraria,  and 
Manchuria,  where  the  eminent  missionary  Eoss  opened  up  the 
way.  Organ:  The  Missionary  Record  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church. 

69.  On  31st  October  1900  these  two  churches  united  to  form 
the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  From  the  beginning  of 
1901  the  Missionary  Record  of  the  Un.  Free  Ch.  of  Sc.  takes  the 
place  of  the  two  former  organs.  The  United  Free  Church  also 
carries  on  missions  as  a  concern  of  the  church,  and  it  forms 

1  Jack,  Dayhreak  in  Livingstonia,  Edinburgh,  1901. 

2  See  pp.  97,  98. 

3  [The  church  has  now  withdrawn  from  mission  work  in  Japan,  in  view  of 
the  number  of  societies  working  there,  and  the  growing  needs  of  other  fields 
\vhere  the  church  has  a  more  exclusive  responsibility. — Ed.] 


104  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

one  of  the  most  important  evangelical  missionary  organisations, 
with  200  (+  100)  missionaries,  44,000  native  communicants, 
63,000  scholars,  and  a  home  income  for  missions  of  about 
£137,500  (SGGO.OOO).1 

70.  All  the  leading  missionary  societies  enumerated  up  to 
this  point  are  more  or  less  distinctly  denominational  in 
character,  and  owe  their  origin  mainly  to  the  felt  necessities 
of  ecclesiastical  separation  at  home.  There  were,  it  is  true, 
many  differences  as  to  the  manner  and  methods  of  mission 
work,  but  as  good  as  no  differences  in  principle.  Every- 
where the  work  of  missions  was  begun  with  a  certain 
simplicity  (Naivitat),  without  entering  much  on  questions 
belonging  to  the  theory  of  missions,  and  practical  experience 
led  on  the  whole  to  similarity  of  methods.  First,  there  was 
the  aiming  at  individual  conversions ;  then  came  the  founding 
and  organising  of  small  congregations  and  the  concentration  of 
mission  work  about  fixed  stations,  the  building  of  schools,  even 
of  higher  schools,  for  the  education  of  native  helpers,  Bible 
translations  and  other  literary  work,  gradually  also — especially 
under  American  incentive — the  training  of  congregations  to 
self-support.  Almost  insensibly  the  advance  was  made  from 
the  stage  of  individual  conversions  and  the  gathering  of  pre- 
sumably elect  congregations,  to  that  of  the  Christianising  of 
larger  circles  of  people,  but  always  without  attaining  any  clear 
theory  as  to  this  course  of  development. 

71.  In  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  at  first  in 
England  and  later  in  America,  other  motives  began  to  operate 
in  the  founding  of  new  missionary  societies.  These  had  refer- 
ence to  the  methods  of  carrying  on  missions  in  connection  with 
certain  interpretations  of  Scripture  and  forms  of  Christian  life. 
This  first  appeared  in  the  China  Inland  Mission  (C.  I.  M.), 
founded  in  1865,  to  which  we  must  devote  a  somewhat  fuller 
notice,  for  this  reason,  that  not  merely  the  strong  personality 
of  its  founder,  but  also  his  Christian  and  missionary  principles, 
have  since  exercised  a  great  influence  upon  wide  circles  even 

1  [It  may  be  added,  that  of  the  number  of  missionaries  given  above,  143  are 
ordained,  54  bold  a  British  medical  qualification,  and  4  others  a  local  medical 
qualification.  The  native  agency  numbers  4188,  of  whom  41  are  ordained 
pastors  and  16  licentiates.  In  addition  to  the  43,933  communicants  gathered 
round  179  principal  stations,  there  are  13,667  candidates;  and  in  addition  to 
the  home  income  above  named,  £62,533  was  received  at  various  stations  abroad. 
The  largest  work  is  done  in  India,  where,  besides  educational  colleges  in  the 
three  Presidency  towns  and  Nagpore,  extensive  evangelistic  work  is  earned  on 
in  the  districts  of  Bengal,  Madras,  Bombay,  the  Cerjtral  Provinces,  and  Kaj- 
putana.  Manchuria,  Syria,  and  South  Arabia  are  its  other  fields  in  Asia.  In 
Africa,  besides  the  Kaffrarian  Missions  in  Cape  Colony  and  the  Zulu  Missions 
in  Natal,  there  are  the  Livingstonia  and  Old  Calabar  Missions.  Jamaica, 
Trinidad,  and  the  New  Hebrides  complete  the  list.— Ed.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     105 

beyond  England,  and  have  not  inconsiderably  altered  the  carry- 
ing on  of  missions.  The  founder  of  the  China  Inland  Mission 
was  the  physician,  J.  Hudson  Taylor,  a  man  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  of  faith,  of  entire  surrender  to  God  and  His  call,  of 
great  self-denial,  heartfelt  compassion,  rare  power  in  prayer, 
marvellous  organising  faculty,  energetic  initiative,  indefatigable 
perseverance,  and  of  astonishing  influence  with  men,  and  withal 
of  childlike  humility.1  After  having  worked  as  a  physician 
and  evangelist  in  China  from  1853,  and  after  the  spiritual  need 
of  the  vast  Chinese  Empire  had  been  laid  as  a  burden  on  his 
soul,  he  founded  with  some  few  friends,  on  the  occasion  of  a 
lengthened  furlough  in  England,  a  society  which  should  preach 
the  Gospel  exclusively  in  China,  and  that  too  in  all  its  pro- 
vinces. Two  sorts  of  principles,  which  concern  partly  the 
missionary  instruments  and  partly  the  missionary  task,  gave 
to  this  China  Mission  its  wholly  peculiar  cast.  As  to  the 
former,  they  are  the  three  following : — (1)  The  acceptance  of 
missionaries  from  all  sections  of  the  church,  if  only  they 
personally  possess  the  old  scriptural  faith  ;  that  made  the  new 
mission  interdenominational.  (2)  To  qualify  for  missionary 
service,  spiritual  preparation  is  essential,  but  not  an  educa- 
tional training.  Missionaries  from  the  universities  are  welcome, 
but  equally  so  are  such  as  have  had  the  simplest  schooling :  it 
is  imperative  only  that  they  have  Bible  knowledge  and  acquire 
the  Chinese  language.  Also  no  difference  is  made  as  to  sex. 
Women  are  as  qualified  for  the  service  of  missions,  even  for 
missionary  preaching,  as  are  men.  And  so  at  least  half  the 
missionaries  of  this  society — if  married  women  are  included 
(as  is  always  done  in  their  statistics),  almost  two-thirds — are 
women,  and  since  its  foundation  the  number  of  women  entering 
upon  missionary  service  has  steadily  increased.  Women,  even 
unmarried,  are  employed  as  evangelists,  even  for  missionary 
pioneer  service  in  the  interior.  (3)  No  direct  appeal  is 
ever  to  be  made  to  men  for  contributions  to  the  expenses 
of  the  mission.  Nor  are  the  missionaries  to  reckon  on  a  fixed 
salary,  but  must  depend  for  their  maintenance  solely  upon  what 
God  supplies.  In  a  specific  sense  they  are  to  be  faith  mission- 
aries. The  second  series  of  principles  is  virtually  determined 
by  the  expectation  of  the  approaching  second  advent  of  Jesus. 
They  have  in  view  the  hastening  of  His  coming,  by  accomplish- 
ing the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  as  speedily  as  possible  through 
the  whole  world.  And  so :  (1)  Witness-bearing  is  regarded  as 
the  essence  of  the  missionary  task.     Since  the  matter  in  hand 

1  A  Retrospect  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Taylor  in  China's  Millions,  1886-1888.  Geral- 
dine  Guinness,  The  Story  of  the  China  Island  M. ,  London,  1893  and  1894.  [Mr, 
Hudson  Taylor  died  at  Changsha,  Hunan,  China,  on  3rd  June  1905.] 


IO&  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

is  not  Christianising,  but  only  that  the  Gospel  be  heard  in  the 
whole  world,  the  missionary  commission  is  limited  to  evangelis- 
ation ;  planting  stations,  building  up  congregations,  educational 
work,  extensive  literary  work,  etc.,  are  not  absolutely  necessary. 
Itinerant  preaching  is  the  chief  thing;  albeit  practical  good 
sense  and  experience  have  largely  modified  this  principle,  and 
stations  have  been  almost  everywhere  organised.  (2)  In  order 
speedily  to  bring  the  Gospel  within  the  hearing  of  all  nations, 
the  largest  possible  hosts  of  evangelists  must  be  sent  out. 
"  If,"  as  Taylor  preaches  and  writes,  "  on  a  very  low  estimate 
there  are  in  China  250  millions  of  people,  that  signifies  not 
more  than  50  million  families.  If  now  we  had  1000  evangelists 
and  colporteurs,  each  of  whom  reached  50  families  daily,  then 
in  the  course  of  1000  days,  or  less  than  three  years,  the  Gospel 
as  written  or  preached  might  be  offered  to  all.  ...  Is  an  enter- 
prise which  1000  men  and  women,  after  two  years'  preparation 
in  the  language,  might  overtake  in  three  years  of  steady  work, 
to  be  considered  a  chimsera,  that  is  beyond  the  power  of  the 
church  ? " 1 

On  the  basis  of  these  theories,  after  repeated  prayer  to  God 
for  a  definite  number  of  missionaries,  large  bands  of  evangelists 
were  sent  out  within  a  short  time,  as  we  shall  see  later  on  was 
also  the  case  with  the  Alliance  Mission.  Especially  when, 
through  the  so-called  "  Cambridge  Seven "  (Studd,  the  two 
Polhill  Turners,  etc.),  a  very  storm  of  enthusiasm  for  the  C.  I.  M. 
was  stirred  in  1885,  the  sending  out  of  missionaries  increased, 
and  that  not  alone  from  England,  but  also  from  Scandinavia, 
Germany,  America,  and  Australia.  Before  1900  the  number  of 
missionaries  is  given  as  811,  of  whom,  however,  484  are  women, 
married  or  unmarried,  while  of  the  327  men  only  75  are 
ordained.  Worthy  of  respect  as  are  the  personal  piety  and 
self-sacrifice  of  these  workers,  yet,  on  the  authority  of  reports 
deserving  of  credit,  it  must  be  doubted  if  all  of  them  have  been 
equal  to  their  calling.  The  income  derived  without  collecting 
reached  in  1900  over  £50,000  ($240,000),  of  which  about 
£42,500  ($204,000)  came  from  England.  The  number  of 
Chinese  communicants,  scattered  through  15  provinces,  was 
about  8500.  The  catastrophe  of  1900  has  smitten  the  work  of 
the  C.  I.  M.  the  most  severely  of  all  the  Chinese  missions.  Almost 
all  the  inland  stations  had  to  be  abandoned,  and  of  their 

1  It  is  certainly  so  to  be  considered,  not  because  it  exceeds  the  power  of  the 
church,  but  because  the  whole  way  of  looking  at  the  matter  is  unspiritual.  Of. 
the  criticism  of  this  whole  evangelisation  theory  in  Warneck,  Evangclische 
Missionslehre,  iii.  221,  and  also  his  article  in  the  A II genuine  MUsions-Zeitung 
for  1897,  305  :  "Die  moderne  Wcltovan^clisations-Theorie." 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    107 

workers  58  (exclusive  of  children)  were  murdered,1  many  also 
of  the  church  members  lost  their  lives,  but  several  fell  away. 
Statistics  of  these  have  not  yet  been  published,  but  already 
the  numerous  new  baptisms  have  more  than  covered  the 
losses.  Since  1901  the  work  has  been  taken  up  afresh  with 
great  energy,  and  the  number  of  workers  has  been  raised  to 
783,  including  195  married  and  270  unmarried  and  widowed 
women,  including  the  staffs  of  six  non-English  branches  (in 
North  America,  Australia,  Scandinavia,  and  Germany),  which 
are  connected  with  the  C.  I.  M.  The  number  of  communi- 
cants has  risen  to  10,250.     Organ:  China's  Millions. 

72.  Quite  on  the  lines  of  the  C.  I.  M.,  only  in  some  respects 
less  moderate  and  laying  stronger  emphasis  on  the  nearness  to 
the  Second  Advent  of  Jesus,  stands  the  East  London  Institute 
for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  founded  in  1872  by  Grattan 
Guinness  and  his  gifted  wife,  which  has  since  1899  been  con- 
stituted as  the  Kegions  Beyond  Miss.  Union.  It  has  already 
trained  by  short  courses  1200  young  men  and  women  for  home 
and  foreign  mission  work,  most  of  whom  have  passed  into  the 
service  of  established  societies.  The  institute,  however,  or 
rather  the  R  B.  M.  XL,  works  a  mission  of  its  own  among 
the  Balolos  in  Mid-Congo,  with  26  missionaries  in  Bengal, 
and  (amongst  the  Roman  Catholics)  in  Peru  and  Argentine. 
The  results  as  yet  are  of  small  importance.  Its  annual 
missionary  income  is  £12,500  ($60,000).  Organ :  Regions 
Beyond. 

Akin  in  spirit  to  both  of  these  is  the  North  African 
Mission,  which  sprang  from  a  mission  to  the  Kabyles.  It  has 
established  one  after  another  from  Morocco  to  Egypt  about 
15  stations  with  83  missionaries,  for  the  most  part  young 
women,  who  in  addition  to  preaching  seek  to  work  specially 
by  home  visitation,  medical  labour,  and  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures  among  the  people  of  Arabia  and  Barbary,  not 
always  in  a  sound  way,  and  only  quite  recently  with  some 
success.  Its  income  is  about  £9000  ($43,200).  Organ :  North 
Africa. 

The  Central  Morocco  and  the  Southern  Morocco  Missions, 
in  operation  since  1886  and  1888,  having  together  15  workers, 
and  limited  mainly  to  medical  work,  can  be  only  mentioned 
here.  So  also  the  Bible  Christian  Foreign  Mission,  which 
works  with  6  missionaries  in  connection  with  the  C.  I.  M. 
The  three  societies  together  have  only  an  income  of  about 
£3000  ($14,400). 

We  must  omit  the  recital  in  detail  of  some  twenty  other 

1  Broomhall,  Martyred  Missionaries  of  the  C.  I.  M.,  with  a  Record  of  the 
Perils  and  Sufferings  of  some  who  escaped,  London,  1901. 


T08  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

small,  and  very  small,  independent  missionary  organisations, 
as  well  as  of  the  very  numerous  contributory  associations.1 

73.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  still  to  take  note  of  the 
auxiliary  societies,  which  expend  important  resources  in  aiding 
particular  departments  of  missionary  work. 

Foremost  among  these  auxiliary  societies  stand  the 
Women's  Missionary  Associations,  which  now  exist  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  for  the  most  part  in  connection  with  the 
larger  missionary  societies,  and  which  either  train,  send  out, 
and  maintain  female  missionaries,  among  them  female  doctors, 
or  confine  themselves  to  collecting  money.  There  are  now 
over  1400  unmarried  women  in  the  service  of  English  mis- 
sionary societies,  and  mainly  supported  by  the  women's  asso- 
ciations. The  monies  collected  by  these  associations  form  an 
appreciable  proportion  of  English  missionary  contributions. 

In  the  second  place,  mention  must  be  made  of  the  Medical 
Missionary  associations,  which  train  male  and  female  medical 
missionaries  and  send  them  out,  for  the  most  part,  in  connec- 
tion with  already  existing  missionary  organisations.  The 
oldest  of  these  medical  missionary  associations  is  the  Edin- 
burgh Medical  Missionary  Society,  founded  as  early  as  1841 ; 
next  comes  the  London  Medical  Missionary  Association  in 
1878.  Both  have  a  yearly  income  of  about  £5000  ($24,000). 
But  these  two  societies  by  no  means  represent  the  total  medical 
missionary  personnel  of  England,  which  amounts  to  215  men 
and  70  women ;  the  great  majority 2  of  these  receive  their 
medical  training  in  the  same  way  as  the  doctors  at  home. 

Thirdly,  a  prominent  place  must  be  assigned  to  the  Bible 
Societies,  especially  to  the  great  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  founded  in  1804,  and  having  its  seat  in  London,  which 
helps  all  missionary  societies,  without  distinction  of  nationality 
or  ecclesiastical  position,  to  undertake,  print,  and  distribute 
translations  of  the  Bible,  by  bearing  a  large  share  of  the  cost. 
Of  its  annual  income  of  about  £250,000  ($1,200,000),  it  expends 
on  an  average  almost  a  third  in  satisfying  the  Bible  require- 
ments of  missions.  In  the  course  of  a  century,  it  has  been 
the  means  of  translating,  printing,  and  distributing  the  Bible 
in  .">70  different  languages  and  dialects,  the  whole  Bible  in  97, 
the  New  Testament  in  93,  and  particular  portions  in  180 
languages,  and  the  very  great  majority  of  these  were  languages 
in  the  mission  field.  Besides  this,  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  maintains  a  numerous  staff  of  agents,  colporteurs, 

1  They  are  recorded  in  Dennis,  as  cited. 

'-  ( It  would  be  more  correct  to  say  "  all."  The  list  of  medical  missionaries 
includes  only  those  holding  a  qualifying  degree,  such  as  would  enable  to  prac- 
tise the  medical  profession  in  civil  lift'.— Ed.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES      109 

and  Bible-women,  in  all  about  1500,  and  of  these  again,  a 
very  important  percentage,  fully  the  half,  are  on  the  mission 
field.1 

Not  so  important  is  the  work  accomplished  by  the 
National  Bible  Society  of  Scotland,  which  expends  about  a  fifth 
of  its  income  of  about  £30,000  ($144,000)  in  issuing  and  dis- 
tributing translations  of  the  Bible,  particularly  in  China  and 
India. 

Fourthly,  there  are  two  societies  to  be  named  which 
render  important  help  in  respect  of  missionary  literature, 
namely,  the  old  and  already  mentioned  society  for  promot- 
ing Christian  knowledge,  and  especially  the  Beligious  Tract 
Society,  founded  in  1799,  which  in  the  course  of  a  century 
has  published  valuable  books  in  200  different  languages 
and  dialects  of  missions.  The  two  together  expend  £30,000 
to  £35,000  annually  in  the  production  and  distribution  of 
missionary  literature. 

74.  In  sum-total  the  British  contributions  for  missions  to 
the  heathen  stand  approximately  as  follows  : — 

Income  :  £1,550,000  ($7,440,000). 
Male  missionaries,  2870. 
Unmarried  women,  1440. 

Section  2.  North  America. 

75.  From  Great  Britain  we  turn  first  of  all  to  the  kindred 
land  of  North  America.  As  has  already  been  shown,  the  first 
Protestant  missionary  endeavours  were  made  there  as  early 
as  the  seventeenth  century,  the  occasion  for  them  lying  close 
at  hand  in  the  nearness  of  the  heathen  Indians.  These 
endeavours,  however,  which  remained  mostly  individual  enter- 
prises, had  to  suffer  greatly,  and  gradually  failed,  under  the 
adverse  influence  of  increasing  race-hatred  and  repeated  wars  ; 
and  they  gave  no  impulse  to  an  extension  of  mission  work  in 
the  rest  of  the  heathen  world.  That  impulse  came  much  more 
from  England,  alike  through  the  reports  of  the  new  missionary 
societies  founded  there,  and  through  a  treatise  by  Buchanan, 
the  Indian  government  chaplain,  The  Star  in  the  East.  In 
the  first  instance  there  arose  several  small  Baptist,  Presby- 
terian, and  Congregational  missionary  societies,  whose  aim  was 
the  circulation  of  missionary  intelligence,  the  gathering  of 
contributions,  and  the  fostering  of  prayer  for  missions.     Some 

1  Canton,  The  Story  of  the  Bible  Society,  London,  1904.  In  1899  there 
were  in  all  406  Bible  translations,  namely,  111  of  the  whole  Bible,  !'t  o  the 
New  Testament,  and  204  of  separate  books  of  the  Bibre.  Watt,  Four  Hundred 
Tongues,  London,  1899. 


IIO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

new  magazines  also  were  started,  which  earnestly  advocated 
the  cause  of  missions :  The  Connecticut  Evangelical  Magazine, 
The  Massachusetts  Missionary  Magazine,  and  The  Baptist  Mis- 
sionary Magazine,  The  Panoplist  and  Religious  Intelligencer. 
But  the  missionary  movement  first  came  into  active  flow 
through  the  instrumentality  of  some  young  students  who  were 
awakened  during  a  spiritual  revival  which  stirred  a  number 
of  theological  seminaries,  notably  that  of  Andover.1  The  first 
impetus  was  given  by  Samuel  Mills,  who  with  some  comrades 
(Eichards  and  Hall)  had  privately  bound  himself  in  Williams' 
College  "  personally  to  carry  out  a  mission  to  the  heathen." 
In  Andover  this  band  was  increased  by  the  accession  of  Nott, 
Newell,  and  Judson,  and  these  young  men,  full  of  missionary 
enthusiasm,  in  June  1810  addressed  to  the  Conference  of 
Preachers  of  Massachusetts,  met  at  Bradford,  the  inquiry : 
"  Whether  they  would  probably  be  supported  by  a  home  mis- 
sionary society  in  their  purpose  to  go  as  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  ? "  That  question  led  forthwith  to  the  formation,  in 
the  autumn  of  1810,  of  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions  (A.  B.  C.  F.  M.).  At  first  an  alliance  with 
the  London  Missionary  Society  was  thought  of,  since  in  1811 
the  young  missionary  society  had  only  collected  about  £200 
($960);  but  when  in  1812  that  sum  rose  to  £2722  ($13,066),  it 
ventured  to  send  out  the  first  missionaries  (Judson,  Newell, 
then  Hall,  Eice,  and  Nott),  and  that  to  India.  Mills  2  remained 
still  in  America  to  raise  funds  for  the  mission  at  home,  and 
did  so  with  large  success.  Moreover,  on  his  incentive,  the 
American  Bible  Society  and  the  Colonisation  Society  for 
Western  Africa,  which  settled  negroes  from  the  United  States 
in  Liberia,  were  both  founded  in  1816.  In  India,  the  East 
India  Company  gave  the  American  missionaries  a  very  in- 
hospitable reception.  Judson  and  Eice,  who  had  joined  the 
Baptists  and  had  been  baptized  in  Serampore,  had  to  leave  the 
country.  They  went  to  Burma,  where,  especially  amongst  the 
Karens,  a  future  rich  in  blessing  awaited  them ;  and  their 
action  occasioned  the  foundation  of  an  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Society.  The  others,  after  many  reverses,  at  last, 
gained  a  footing  in  Ceylon  and  Bombay.  In  1817  the  Board 
began  its  missions  to  the  Indians,  which  was  transferred  in  1883 
to  the  American  Missionary  Association.  In  1819,  moved  by 
some  young  Sandwich  islanders  who  had  come  to  America,  it 
sent  the  first  missionaries  to  Hawaii,  and  in  the  same  year  to 
Palestine,   from   which    the    work    gradually   spread   to   the 

1  Leonard,  "  The  Origin  of  Missions  in  America,"  Miss.  Review  of  the  World, 
1892.   122. 

2  The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad,  July  1397,  52  :  "  Sam.  John  Mills." 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    III 

Eastern  churches  in  the  whole  of  the  Turkish  Empire.  To 
these  fields  there  were  added  in  1830,  West  Africa  (Sierra 
Leone  and  Gaboon) ;  in  1835,  South-East  Africa  (Zululand) ;  in 
1847,  China ;  in  1852,  Micronesia  ;  in  1869,  Japan  ;  and  in  1880, 
West  Africa  again  (Bih£);  whilst  from  1831  its  missions  in 
India  have  gradually  extended  to  six  different  fields.  Origin- 
ally the  Dutch  Reformed  and  the  Presbyterian  churches  be- 
longed to  the  American  Board ;  but  at  a  later  date  both 
separated  from  it  to  work  missions  of  their  own,  and  obtained 
from  the  Board  the  conveyance  to  them  of  several  fields 
already  occupied  (Amoy  in  China,  Arcot  in  India,  Syria,  Siam, 
Gaboon),  so  that  the  Board  is  now  purely  Congregational. 
As,  according  to  the  principles  of  this  denomination,  missions 
are  in  the  home  land  really  a  congregational  concern,  and  not 
subject  to  strict  guidance,  so  also  on  the  mission  fields  the 
aim  is  not  towards  the  organisation  of  churches  but  of  single 
independent  congregations,  whose  independence  unhappily  has 
repeatedly,  as  in  Hawaii  and  Japan,  been  forced  in  a  manner 
contrary  to  sound  development.  We  are  indebted  to  the 
American  Board,  especially  to  its  most  distinguished  secretary, 
Rufus  Anderson,  for  his  energetic  advocacy  of  the  training 
the  native  Christian  congregations  to  self  -  support,  self- 
government,  and  self-expansion,  but  we  cannot  give  to  the 
"  doctrinaire "  haste  with  which  he  sought  to  realise  these 
principles,  the  praise  of  educational  wisdom.  Only  well- 
educated  men  are  sent  out  as  missionaries,  but  the  choice  of 
their  field  of  work  is  left  free  to  themselves,  and  unhappily 
they  often  change.  Amongst  them  is  a  splendid  list  of 
eminent  men,  e.g.  Scudder  and  Winslow  in  Southern  India, 
Poor  in  Ceylon,  Parsons  and  Fisk  in  Syria,  Goodall  and  Riggs 
in  Turkey,  Bridgman  in  China,  and  Greene,  Gulick,  Davis, 
Deforest,  Berry  in  Japan.  At  present  the  Board  has  180 
ordained  and  non-ordained  missionaries,  and  an  equal  number 
of  unmarried  female  missionaries  on  17  mission  fields,  and, 
including  Hawaii,  over  59,000  members  in  full  communion. 
Its  income,  which  of  late  years  has  not  met  the  expenditure,  so 
that  its  work  has  had  to  be  curtailed,  reaches  nearly  £140,000 
($672,000).1  It  would  appear  that  the  old  missionary  zeal  is 
somewhat  flagging  among  the  Congregationalists.  In  con- 
nection with  the  Board  there  are  three  very  energetic  Women's 
Missionary  Societies.     Organ  :  The  Missionary  Herald? 

1  Almost  all  the  American  societies  carry  on  a  more  or  less  extensive  work  of 
evangelisation  within  non-evangelical  Christendom,  and  this  is  not  always  kept 
clearly  distinct  in  the  reports  of  missions  to  the  heathen.  Hence  the  statistical 
statements  in  reference  to  the  latter  can  only  claim  an  approximate  accuracy. 

2  Tracy,  History  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.,  New  York,  1842.  Memorial  Volume 
of  the  first  fifty  years  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.,  Boston,  1863.  Anderson,  History  of 
the  Missions  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.     Boston,  1872,  1873,  1S75. 


112  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  American  Missionary  Association,  established  in  1846, 
is  also  virtually  Independent.  After  a  passing  activity  in 
Western  Africa,  it  confines  itself  now  to  work  among  the 
negroes,  Indians,  and  Chinese  in  the  United  States.  Especially 
amongst  the  first,  who,  nominally  at  least,  are  no  longer 
heathens,  it  carries  on  an  extensive  work  in  schools  and  con- 
gregations. In  all  it  has  17,000  scholars  in  116  schools,  and 
14,500  communicants  in  250  congregations.  There  are  750 
missionaries,  a  large  percentage  of  them  being  coloured.  The 
income  is  nearly  £75,000  ($360,000).  Organ :  American 
Missionary. 

76.  In  1814  the  second  great  American  Missionary  Society 
came  into  life,  the  General  Convention  of  the  Baptist  De- 
nomination in  the  United  States  of  America  for  Foreign 
Missions,  which  later  took  as  its  title  the  American  Baptist 
Missionary  Union  (A.  B.  M.  U.).  Its  foundation  was  occasioned 
by  the  going  over  to  the  Baptists  of  the  missionaries  Judson 
and  Rice,  sent  by  the  American  Board,  as  has  been  already 
noticed,  the  English  Baptist  Missionary  Society  having  already 
declined  to  take  these  men  into  its  service.  The  young  society 
carried  on  with  growing  earnestness  the  mission  already  begun 
in  Burma,  to  which  was  added  in  1827  the  prosperous  mission 
amongst  the  Karens,  in  which,  besides  Judson,  Boardman, 
Wade,  and  Mason,  were  the  heroic  and  blessed  leaders.  Missions 
in  Siam  and  Assam  followed  in  1833  and  1836,  in  1840 
amongst  the  Telegus  in  India  Proper  (Jewett  and  Clough),  in 
China  in  1843,  in  Japan  in  1872,  and  in  1886  on  the  Congo. 
Besides  the  mission  among  the  Karens,  that  amongst  the 
Telegus  has  been  especially  successful.  In  all  its  fields  the 
Baptist  Union  has  to-day  117,000  members  in  full  communion 
and  210  (+  120)  missionaries,  besides  a  large  mass  of  native 
workers.  Its  total  income  for  missions  to  the  heathen  amounts 
to  over  £150,000  ($720,000).  In  connection  with  it  are  four 
Women's  Societies.  Organ  :  The  Baptist  Missionary  Magazine. 
— In  1845,  owing  to  the  question  of  slavery,  a  separate 
Southern  Baptist  Convention  was  formed.  It  carries  on 
mission  work  amongst  the  heathen  in  China,  Western  Africa, 
and  Japan  with  40  (+  30)  missionaries,  has  about  4000  com- 
municants, and  expeuds  about  £17,500  ($84,000).  Organ: 
Foreign  Missionary  Journal.  —  The  Free  Baptists  and  the 
Seventh-day  Baptists  maintain  only  small  missions  in  India 
and  China.  They  have  14  missionaries  and  900  communicants. 
Their  united  income  is  £5000  ($24,000).— Also  the  Coloured 
Baptists,  who  form  a  separate  and  strong  communion,  having 
2,110,270  communicants,  have  for  a  long  time  carried  on 
mission  work  in  various  small  organisations,  which  in  1895 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    II3 

were  combined  into  a  Foreign  Mission  Board  of  the  National 
Baptist  Convention.  But  the  number  of  their  active  mission- 
aries in  South  and  West  Africa,  British  Central  Africa,  and  the 
West  Indies  (communicants  8500)  appears  to  be  small,  and 
their  income  scarcely  amounts  to  £2000  ($9600). 

77.  In  America,  it  now  came  to  pass,  as  it  had  done  in 
England: — Missionary  efforts  became  linked  to  separate  de- 
nominations, and  there  is  a  really  bewildering  mass  of  in  part 
quite  small  societies,  which  the  American  spirit  of  division  has 
from  time  to  time  called  into  existence.  I  confine  myself  to 
citing  only  the  most  important  of  each  leading  denomination, 
and  simply  registering  summarily  the  rest.1  I  leave  out  of 
consideration  the  proselytising  and  evangelising  work  amongst 
Protestants  and  Catholics  which  most  of  the  American  mis- 
sionary societies  combine  with  their  mission  to  the  heathen. 

At  the  instigation  of  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society, 
a  "  Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  "  (P.  E.  M.)  was 


1  For  information  as  to  tho  many  ecclesiastical  forms  of  North  American 
Protestantism,  cf.  Dorchester,  Christianity  in  the  United  States  from  the  First 
Settlement  doivn  to  the  Present  Time,  New  York,  1888;  and  Caroll,  The  Religious 
Forces  of  the  United  States.  The  American  Church  History  Series,  vol.  i.,  New 
York,  1893. — One  may  reckon  the  total  number  of  Protestant  denominations  in 
the  United  States  at  about  150.  As  the  government  does  not  include  religious 
or  church  statistics  in  its  census,  and  such  statistics  can  accordingly  only  be 
procured  privately,  a  complete  and  absolutely  reliable  table  is  not  possible. 
The  Independent  of  3rd  January  1901  publishes  statistics  of  127  denominations, 
which  I  quote  in  order  according  to  the  number  of  their  communicants,  and 
with  a  statement  in  brackets  of  the  number  of  separate  bodies  into  which  each 
denomination  is  divided  ;  making  only  this  preliminary  remark,  that  the  term 
communicant  always  signifies  a  regular  church  member  in  full  communion,  and 
that  the  total  number  of  souls  connected  with  each  communion  may  commonly 
be  reckoned  at  three  times  the  number  of  communicants  : — 


Methodists  (17) 
Baptists  (13)  . 
Lutherans  (5) . 
Presbyterians  (20)  . 
Disciples  of  Christ  . 
Christian  Scientists 
Episcopal  (2)  . 
Congregationalists  . 
United  Brethren  (2) 
Reformed  (3)  . 
Latter  Day  Saints   . 
German  Synods 
Evangelical  Union  . 
Quakers  (4)     . 
Christians  (2) . 
Baptists  (Dunkards)  (4) 
Adventists  (6) 

The  numbers  meanwhile 
communicants  in  the  Un 
millions. — The  Mormons 
proselytising  work  even 

8 


5,852,425  Unitarians   ....  71,000 

4,744,874  Un.  Evangelical  Church       .  60,933 

1,665,878  Mennonites  (12)  .         .         .  58,428 

1,659,765  Universalists        .         .         .  48,426 

1,149,982  Salvation  Army   .         .         .  40,000 

1,000,000  Christian  Catholics       .         .  40,000 

726,174  Church  of  God     .         .         .  38,000 

629,874  German  Evangelical  Protestants  36,131 

470,484  Christian  Union  (2)      .         .  19,000 

369,235  Moravians    ....  14,817 

345,500  Ch.  of  the  New  Jerusalem     .  7,679 

203,574  Plymouth  Brethren  (4)         .  6,661 

118,865  Brethren  in  Christ  (3)  .         .  4,739 

117,868  Communists  (8)    .         .         .  3,884 

111,835  Irvingites     .         .         .         .  1,394 

111,481  Christadelphians  .         .         .  1,277 

88,798  The  Church  Triumphant  (12)  589 

have  increased,  so  that  the  total  number  of  Protestant 
ted  States  may  be  reckoned  in  round  numbers  at  21 
,  who  have  310,000  members,  carry  on  an  extensive 
n  the  heathen  world. 


114  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

founded  in  1820  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  but  only  fifteen  years  later  did  it 
establish  a  mission,  which  was  located  in  Western  Africa 
(Cape  Palmas).  In  1834,  as  a  second  mission  field,  China  was 
added  (Boone  and  Schereshewsky) ;  in  1859,  Japan  (Bishop 
Williams)  ;  in  1862,  Haiti.  Besides  these,  the  Episcopalians 
carry  on  an  extensive  "  domestic  mission,"  which  embraces  the 
coloured  population  of  North  America.  The  number  of  their 
missionaries  to  the  heathen  is  70  (+  30),  of  their  communicants 
6000,  and  the  income  devoted  to  missions  to  the  heathen  is 
about  £50,000  ($240,000).     Organ  :  The  Spirit  of  Missions. 

78.  Amongst  the  Methodists,  the  Episcopalian  branch 
(North  and  South)  is  most  earnest  in  mission  work.  The 
Northern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (M.  E.  N.)  founded  its 
missions  amongst  the  Indians  in  1819,  amongst  the  heathen 
abroad  in  1833,  first  in  Liberia,  then  in  1847  in  China,  in 
1856  in  Northern  India,  in  1872  in  Japan,  in  1885  in  Corea. 
Besides  these,  it  carries  on  an  extensive  work  not  only  in 
different  Catholic  countries  (now  also  on  the  Philippines),  but 
also  in  evangelical  countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  which 
naturally  do  not  concern  us  here.1  It  supports  260  (+  210) 
missionaries  to  the  heathen,  besides  a  great  number  of  native 
helpers  ;  reckons  besides  55,000  communicants,  and  out  of  an 
income  which  exceeds  £250,000  ($1,200,000)  it  expends 
£100,000  ($480,000)  on  missions  to  the  heathen.  Organ  :  The 
Gospel  in  all  Lands. — The  Southern  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
(M.  E.  S.)  entered  upon  missionary  work  in  1846,  and  labours 
besides  amongst  the  Indians  in  China  and  Japan.  It  has  in 
all  about  50  ( +  10)  missionaries  and  2500  native  communicants. 
Its  annual  income  is  £37,500  ($168,000). 

In  loose  connection  with  the  Northern  Episcopal  Methodists 
was  the  somewhat  adventurous  mission  of  William  Taylor,  who 
had  been  consecrated  "  Bishop  of  Africa,"  a  romantic  revival 
preacher  of  as  great  energy  and  devotion  as  of  feverish  unrest 
and  declamatory  rhetoric,  who  had  travelled  through  almost 
all  the  world,  and  in  1884,  when  over  60  years  of  age,  attempted 
to  found  a  so-called  "  Self-sustaining  Industrial  Mission "  in 
West  Africa  (Liberia,  Angola,  Congo),  with  a  great  band  of 
almost  utterly  untrained  male  and  female  evangelists.  From 
this  "  heroic  " — one  would  more  fitly  say  fantastic — mission 
Mr.  Taylor  retired  in  1896  (he  died  in  1902) ;  and  his  successor, 
Bishop  Hartzell,  passed  an  unmistakable  criticism  upon  it  in 
his  first  report.  The  former  wordy  and  hazy  reports  gave  no 
reliable  details  either  of  the  extension,  or  the  results,  or  the 

1  Rcid,  Missions  and  Miss.  Soc.  of  the  Meth.  Episcopal  Ch.  Revised  and 
extended  by  Gracy,  3  vols.,  New  York,  189ij. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    1 1  5 

expenditure  of  the  mission.  The  organ  of  the  mission,  too,  has 
repeatedly  changed  its  name :  at  first  it  was  called  African 
News,  then  Illustrated  Africa,  then  The  Illustrated  Christian 
World;  and  now  it  seems  to  have  become  extinct — at  least  it 
no  longer  comes  under  my  eyes.  With  the  departure  of  Taylor 
the  mission  he  unsoundly  conducted  has  been  placed  under  the 
supervision  of  the  General  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ;  the  wholly  inadequate  statistical  statements 
of  the  last  annual  report,  so  far  as  concerns  the  Congo  M.  Conf. 
or  Angola,  show  how  exaggerated  the  former  bulletins  have 
been.1 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  with  699,000 
members,  which  has  hitherto  carried  on  missions  in  the  West 
Indies  and  in  West  Africa  with  little  success,  sent  Bishop 
Turner  to  South  Africa  in  1896  for  a  temporary  sojourn,  in 
order  to  help  to  organise  an  independent  coloured  church  there, 
the  so-called  Ethiopian,  with  the  watchword,  "  Africa  for  the 
Africans."  The  theatrical  appearance  of  the  black  "  Eight 
Keverend,"  however,  which  occasioned  no  little  excitement, 
was  not  successful  in  leading  the  wild  movement  into  sound 
lines,  nor  in  retaining  it  in  close  connection  with  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  The  movement 
itself,  as  we  shall  have,  to  report  later,  has  grown  considerably. 

79.  Among  the  Presbyterians,  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America 
takes  the  foremost  place.  It  was  instituted  in  1837,  after 
separation  from  the  American  Board,  and,  without  taking  into 
view  Mexico,  South  America,  and  recently  the  Philippines,  it 
has  from  time  to  time  begun  missions  amongst  the  Indians, 
in  Syria,  Persia,  India,  Siam,  West  Africa  (Gaboon),  China, 
Korea,  and  Japan.  There  are  270  (+  170)  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  in  its  service,  and  its  income  is  nearly  167,000 
($801,600).  The  number  of  its  communicants  from  among 
the  heathen  is  over  37,000.  Unhappily,  in  consequence  of  the 
falling  off  of  its  income,  its  work'  has  been  curtailed,  and  this 
has  proved  disastrous,  especially  to  its  evangelistic  labour 
among  the  Christians  in  Syria.  Organ :  Assembly  Hercdd  of 
the  Presb.  Oh.  U.S.A.,  formerly  The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad. 
— Next  to  it  the  Presbyterians  of  the  South,  "  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  (South),"  and 
the  United  Presbyterians  (Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  North  America),  do  the  most 
important  missionary  work  :  the  former  since  1861,  in  China, 
Japan,  on  the  Congo,  and  in  Corea,  with  altogether  57  (+  25) 

1  lllustr.    Chr.     World,    1897,    2.      Miss.    Herald,    1897,    298.      Bentley, 
Pioneering  in  the  Congo,  ii.  414. 


Il6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

missionaries,  2500  communicants,  and  in  income  of  £20,000 
($96,000),  (Organ  :  The  Missionary) ;  the  latter  since  1859,  in 
China  (again  given  up),  India,  and  Egypt,  with  40  missionaries, 
13,500  communicants,  and  an  income  of  £43,500  ($208,800). 
All  the  Presbyterian  missions  also  are  powerfully  supported 
by  numerous  Women's  Societies. 

The  Eeformed  Churches  are  divided  into  Dutch  and 
German.  The  former,  the  Reformed  Church  in  America 
(R.  C.  A.),  after  separating  from  the  American  Board,  have 
since  1857  been  carrying  on  missions  independently  in  China, 
India,  Japan  (Verbeck),1  and  Arabia  (Zwemer),  with  37  (  +  29) 
missionaries.  The  number  of  native  communicants  is  5000, 
and  the  income  is  £31,500  ($150,124).  Organ :  The  Mission 
Field.  Also  the  German  Church,  the  Reformed  Church  in  the 
United  States  (R.  C.  U.  St.),  stood  originally  in  connection  with 
the  American  Board,  but  it  began  in  1879  a  mission  of  its  own 
in  Japan  and  China.  At  present  it  supports  19  missionaries, 
including  6  females,  numbers  2000  communicants,  and  has 
an  annual  income  of  £12,500  ($60,000).  Organs :  Missionary 
Gleanings  and  Missionsbote. 

The  Disciples  of  Christ  carry  on  mission  work  since  1879, 
not  only  in  Turkey  and  Syria,  in  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines, 
but  also  in  India,  China,  Japan,  and  the  Congo,  with  37  male 
and  20  female  missionaries,  numbers  3300  communicants,  and 
have  a  yearly  income  of  £35,000  ($168,000).  Organ:  The 
Missionary  Intelligencer. 

The  United  Brethren  in  Christ,  in  union  with  its  inde- 
pendent Women's  Association,  support  16  missionaries  in  West 
Africa  (Scherbro),  China,  and  Japan,  with  an  outlay  of  £6500 
($31,200),  and  register  2700  communicants.  Organs :  The 
Search  Light  and  Woman's  Evangel. 

A  relatively  extensive  mission  is  carried  on  by  the  Quakers 
in  Alaska,  India,  China,  Japan,  and  Jamaica,  as  well  as  in 
Palestine  and  Syria,  with  45  male  and  female  missionaries, 
upon  an  income  of  about  £12,000  ($57,600).  They  number 
some  2000  church  members.     Organ  :  The  American  Friend. 

80.  On  the  other  hand,  the  missionary  achievements  of  the 
Lutheran  churches  of  North  America  are  not  important  in 
proportion  to  their  numerical  strength.2     Two  older  romantic 

1  Griffis,  Verbeck  of  Japan,  New  York,  1900. 

2  They  are  divided  into  5  church  bodies  : — (1)  General  Synod,  const.  1820, 
representing  the  new  or  American  ("  lax  ")  Lutheranism.  (2)  General  Council, 
const.  1867,  representing  a  moderate  Lutheran  creed.  (3)  Synodal  Conference, 
const.  1872,  with  Missouri,  representing  the  most  exclusive  Lutheranism.  (4) 
United  Synod  of  the  South,  const.  1886,  between  the  General  Synod  and 
General  Council.  (5)  15  Independent  Synods  (Ohio,  Iowa,  etc.).  These  bodies 
have  altogether  a  total  membership  of  1,748,000  communicants.     To  these  have 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    1 1/ 

missionary  enterprises  among  the  Indians  in  Michigan  have 
passed  away  with  almost  no  result,  and  a  more  recent  Indian 
mission  of  the  Wisconsin  Synod  in  Arizona  is  still  in  its 
beginnings.  No  doubt  the  tardy  and  inadequate  participation 
of  the  Lutheran  or  German  churches  of  North  America  in 
foreign  missions  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  extensive  and 
intensive  work  among  immigrants,  whose  ingathering  and 
organisation  of  churches  claimed  their  principal  energies  ;  these 
churches,  too,  have  sent  contributions,  certainly  not  very  large 
ones,  to  different  German  missionary  societies ;  but  if  they  had 
not  waged  so  many  fruitless  confessional  controversies  among 
themselves,  their  activity  in  respect  of  missions  to  the  heathen 
would  not  have  been  so  far  behind  that  of  other  denominations. 
The  General  Synod  and  the  General  Council  support  one  since 
1841,  and  both  since  1874 — but  separately  from  one  another — 
a  mission  in  Teluguland  (India),  with  in  all  20  missionaries,  and 
14  female  missionaries,  and  about  12,000  communicants;  and 
the  General  Synod  also  supports  the  little  Muhlenberg  Mission 
in  Liberia  (Day).  Organs  :  Missionsbote,  Foreign  Missionary,  and 
Lutheran  Missionary  Journal. 

The  Missouri  Synod,  besides  its  mission  among  the  negroes 
and  Indians,  has  since  1894  instituted  a  mission  among  the 
Tamuls  (in  opposition  to  the  Leipzig  Mission),  and  carries  it 
on  with  5  missionaries.  The  total  income  of  these  three  Lutheran 
church  bodies  amounts  to  £17,500  ($84,000).  The  German 
Evangelical  Synod  works  since  1867  with  9  missionaries  [2300 
communicants)  in  the  central  provinces  of  India.  The  in- 
come amounts  to  £4600  ($22,080).  Organ :  Der  deutsche 
Missionsfreund. 

81.  In  British  North  America  (Canada)  are  three  inde- 
pendent missionary  organisations  :  (1)  A  Baptist  Convention 
of  Ontario  and  Quebec,  which  works  only  in  India  (Telugu) 
with  21  male  and  10  female  missionaries,  registers  4200  com- 
municants, and  has  an  income  of  £6450  ($30,960).  (2)  A 
mission  of  the  Methodist  Church  in  Canada,  with  fields  of 
labour  among  the  Indians,  in  Japan,  and  in  China,  with  40 
(  +  36)  missionaries,  8000  communicants,  and  an  income  of 
£20,750  ($99,600).  Organ:  The  Missionary  Outlook.  (3)  A 
missionary  committee  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Canada, 
which  is  at  work  in  China,  Formosa  (Mackay),  Korea,  India, 
West  Indies,  and  the  New  Hebrides,  with  68  male  and  40 
female  missionaries,  registers  4000  communicants,  and  has  an 
income   of   £35,000    ($168,000).      Organ:    The  Presbyterian 

to  be  added  the  United  German  Evangelical  Synod  of  N.  America,  with  203,574 
communicants,  and  the  German  Evan.  Prot.  Church,  also  not  of  the  Lutheran 
creed,  with  about  36,156  communicants. 


Il8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Record.  —  A  (fourth)  independent  society,  the  Missionary 
Societ}^  of  the  Church  of  England  in  Canada,  was  con- 
stituted only  in  1902.  It  seeks  to  carry  on  missions  as 
an  official  concern  of  the  Church,  and  to  meet  their  cost 
by  means  of  a  church  assessment.  How  this  scheme  will 
work  the  future  must  show.  In  Canada  also,  as  in  the 
United  States,  there  are  a  number  of  more  or  less  inde- 
pendent Women's  Societies  participating  energetically  in 
missionary  work. 

82.  Whilst  the  wealth  of  North  America  in  missionary 
societies  has  its  chief  reason  in  the  great  denominational 
division  of  Protestantism  there,  and  in  its  independent  spirit 
of  freedom,  since  the  middle  of  the  "  eighties "  a  powerful 
double  movement  has  come  to  the  front,  which  bears  an  inter- 
denominational character  and  approximates  very  closely  in  its 
principles  to  the  direction  taken  by  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
namely,  the  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  foreign  missions, 
and  the  Alliance  Missions.  At  the  close  of  1884,  by  means 
of  the  so-called  "Cambridge  Seven,"  who  entered  the  service 
of  the  China  Inland  Mission  (p.  104),  a  potent  missionary  fire 
was  kindled  among  the  student  youth  of  England  and  Scot- 
land ;  it  soon  caught  hold  also  of  the  youth  of  North  America, 
where  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  and  especially  the 
so-called  "  Endeavour  "  societies,  as  also  the  evangelistic  labours 
of  Moody,  had  well  prepared  the  ground  for  missionary  move- 
ment amongst  pupils  in  the  high  schools  and  male  and  female 
students.  At  a  conference  of  students  which  Moody  summoned 
to  Mount  TIermon,  Massachusetts,  in  the  middle  of  1886,  and 
which  was  held  for  some  weeks  and  devoted  to  practical  study 
of  the  Bible,  there  was  formed,  chiefly  on  the  incentive  of 
young  Mr.  Wilder,  a  band  of  such  students,  or  those  of  both 
sexes  preparing  to  be  students,  who  made  a  written  declaration 
that  they  were  willing  to  become  missionaries  if  God  permitted, 
and  who  chose  as  their  watchword:  "The  evangelisation  of  the 
world  in  this  generation."  The  first  hundred  who  so  united 
themselves  at  Mount  Hermon  then  organised  an  agitation  in 
the  colleges  and  seminaries,  which,  certainly  not  without 
Methodistical  forcing  and  the  rhetoric  of  enthusiasm,  set  a 
movement  at  work  that  in  a  comparatively  short  time  made, 
it  was  said,  over  5000  young  people  willing  to  join  the  band, 
which  was  now  constituted  as  the  Student  Volunteer  Mission- 
ary Union  (S.  V.  M.  U.). 

Although  in  recent  years  the  movement  has  become  in  some 
measure  clarified,  still  the  rhetorical  watchword,  which  is  treated 
like  an  inspiration,1  creates  some  confusion,  and  the  expositions 

1  Mott,  The  Evangelisation  of  the  World  in  this  Generation,  Loudon,  1000. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    Up 

which  are  given  of  it  are  very  contradictory.  If  it  is  understood 
literally,  that  (not  the  Christianising, — that  is  declined,  but)  the 
evangelisation  of  the  whole  non-Christian  world  should  be  actu- 
ally carried  through  in  the  life-time  of  those  now  living,  then 
the  realisation  of  this  phrase  "  within  a  generation,"  apart  from 
all  other  improbabilities,  is  rendered  impossible  by  this,  that 
within  such  a  short  space  of  time  the  crowd  of  languages 
which  are  spoken  in  the  world  where  as  yet  no  missionaries 
have  been  placed,  cannot  be  mastered  in  a  manner  qualifying 
for  the  intelligible  expression  of  the  fundamental  truths  of  the 
Gospel.  But  if  by  this  fascinating  motto  is  understood  only 
a  temperate  appeal  to  the  present  generation  to  sacrifice  every- 
thing in  its  power  in  order  that  it  may  in  its  time  carry  the 
Gospel  as  far  out  into  the  world  as  God  may  open  the  doors 
and  provide  the  means,  then  indeed  this  call  deserves  to  be 
taken  universally  to  heart;  but  the  watchword  in  which  it  is 
embodied  expresses  it  in  a  way  very  open  to  misapprehension. 
Happily  the  movement  has  not  led  to  the  founding  of  new 
missionary  societies,  and  up  till  now  its  leaders  have  decided 
to  resist  all  pressure  in  that  direction,  and  also  to  discounten- 
ance the  going  out  as  individual  missionaries.  They  have  also 
distinctly  declared  themselves  against  the  conception  of  evan- 
gelisation as  only  a  hurried  proclamation  of  the  message  of 
salvation  through  the  whole  world.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this 
movement,  otherwise  so  gladdening,  will  become  increasingly 
sound  and  healthy  by  avoiding  all  wholesale  driving  and 
dropping  the  rhetorical  phrase.  Able  advocates  besides  Wilder, 
especially  Mr.  Mott,  have  sought  to  transplant  the  movement 
not  only  into  England  and  the  Continent,  but  also  upon  the 
mission  fields  of  Asia, — in  England  with  much  success,  as  yet 
with  less  on  the  Continent.  Organs  :  The  Student  Movement} 
The  Inter  collegian,  and  Der  Sttidentenbund  fur  Mission. 

83.  Whilst  the  Student  Missionary  movement  contents  itself 
with  enlisting  workers  for  the  existing  missionary  societies,  a 
new  mission  has  arisen  in  1887  out  of  the  Christian  Alliance, 
of  which  the  evangelist  Simpson  is  the  leader.  This  mission, 
indeed,  was  originally  designated  the  International  Missionary 
Alliance,  but  it  soon  divided  into  three  branches :  an  Amer- 
ican, a  Scandinavian,  and  a  very  small  German  one.     Now  it  is 

1  Miss.  Rev.,  1889,  824:  "The  Student  Missionary  Uprising.  Report  of  the 
Detroit  Convention,"  Boston,  1894.  Wishard, "  A  New  Programme  of  Missions," 
New  York,  1895;  cf.  Miss.  Rev.,  1895,  641.  Report  of  the  International 
Students  Miss.  Conference  at  Liverpool,  1896.  Intelligencer,  1896,  253  :  "The 
Evangelisation  of  the  World  in  this  Generation."  "  Memorial  of  the  Stud.  Vol. 
Miss.  Union  to  the  Church  of  Christ  of  Britain  "  ;  Intelligencer,  1897,  371,  and 
The  Student  Volunteer,  1897,  77.  "The  Student  Miss.  Appeal.  Addresses  of 
the  Third  International  Convention  of  the  S.  Y.  M.  at  Cleveland,  1898  ;  cf. 
A.  M.  Z.,  1898,  278. 


120  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

called  the  Christian  and  Missionary  Alliance.  A  characteristic 
feature  of  this  most  recent  mission  is  the  ';  Fourfold  Gospel " 
of  the  Alliance :  Redemption,  Sanctification,  Healing,  and  the 
Second  Advent.  On  the  hasis  of  this  Gospel  a  Christian 
brotherhood  has  been  formed,  which  is  "  to  unite  the  great 
number  of  sanctified  Christians  in  the  various  evangelical 
churches,  who  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  as  on  Him  who 
redeems,  sanctifies,  heals,  and  is  coming."  The  aim  of  this 
union  is  by  fellowship  and  prayer  to  encourage  and  strengthen 
the  members  in  the  different  forms  of  Christian  faith  and  of 
active  Christian  love,  everywhere  to  quicken  a  deeper  Christian 
life,  and  so  to  prepare  the  Advent  of  the  Lord.  It  is  altogether 
under  this  last  point  of  view  that  the  work  of  missions  is 
placed,  their  task  being  simply  to  make  known  the  message 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  world,  and,  in  order  that  this  may  be 
accomplished  as  quickly  as  possible,  to  send  forth  great  hosts 
of  evangelists.  The  idea  was,  with  the  help  of  20,000  mission- 
aries, to  evangelise  the  world  before  the  end  of  1900  !  In  the 
course  of  eight  years  this  whimsical  mission  has  not  only 
attracted  an  amaziugly  large  following,  but  has  also  sent  out 
more  than  330  missionaries,  male  and  female,  most  of  them,  it 
is  true,  little  trained  and  not  equal  to  their  calling,  into  the 
four  quarters  of  the  earth,  "  to  claim  these  for  God."  Aston- 
ishing as  this  growth  is,  just  so  much  ground  does  it  give  for 
most  serious  reflections.  The  works  of  God  are  not  of  such 
hot-house  growth,  and  from  such  intemperate  enthusiasm 
nothing  healthy  can  be  born.  Without  enlightened  leading 
much  noble  energy  will  be  scattered  through  the  wide  world, 
and  misspent  to  no  profit.  Already  a  paralysing  coolness  seems 
to  have  begun;  the  means  of  support,  which  at  first  flowed 
in  to  superfluity, — in  a  single  meeting  once  £20,000  (896,000), 
— do  not  suffice  to  protect  the  numerous  missionaries  from 
the  bitterest  need,  and  irregularities  in  the  administratioi] 
have  already  led  to  a  painful  public  discussion.  Of  any 
results  from  the  past  twelve  years'  work  there  is  nothing  to 
report.  At  present  the  Missionary  Alliance  has  about  120 
missionaries,  80  unmarried  women  missionaries,  and  deals  with 
an  income  of  about  £20,000  ($96,000),  and  has  2800  commu- 
nicants upon  9  fields,  including  South  America,  Porto  Rica,  and 
the  Philippines.  Organ  :  The  Christian  and  Missionary  Alli- 
ance. Alongside  of  the  Alliance  stands  the  Scandinavian 
Alliance  Mission  of  North  America,  founded  by  the  Swedish 
evangelist  Fransen  in  1891.  It  has  47  (+  39)  missionaries  in 
East  and  South  Africa,  India,  Japan,  and  China,  an  income  of 
only  £6000  ($20,800),  and  500  baptized  Christians.  Its  reports 
are  published  in  the  Chicago  Bladet  and  Mksionsvacnnen. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    121 

Finally,  there  have  to  be  mentioned  as  societies  auxiliary 
to  missions:  (1)  The  American  Bible  Society,  founded  in  1816, 
which,  like  the  British  Society,  prints  missionary  translations 
of  the  Bible,  and  expends  yearly  about  £15,000  ($72,000)  on 
missionary  purposes ;  and  (2)  the  American  Tract  Society, 
founded  in  1825,  which  in  like  manner  subsidises  missionary 
literary  work. 

But  the  most  powerful  helpers  of  missions  in  North  America 
are  the  Women's  Missionary  Associations,  about  42  in  number, 
which  not  only  bring  in  yearly  a  financial  contribution,  in 
round  numbers,  of  £300,000  ($1,440,000),  but  also  supply  the 
chief  contingent  of  women  workers.  There  are  also  in  the 
United  States,  since  1881,  three  medical  missionary  societies ; 
the  International  Medical  Missionary  Society  of  New  York ; 
the  Chicago  Medical  Missionary  Association ;  and  the  Inter- 
national Medical  Missionary  and  Benevolent  Association. 

Including  about  25  small  missionary  organisations,  not  men- 
tioned by  name,  the  total  contribution  of  North  America  and 
Canada  for  Foreign  Missions  is — 

Male  missionaries :  about  2000. 

Unmarried  female  missionaries  :  1370. 

Income(for  missions  to  the  heathen),£l,025,000($4,920,000). 

Section  3.  Germany 

84.  Returning  now  from  America  to  the  continent  of 
Europe,  in  order  to  glance  at  the  development  of  missionary 
life  during  last  century,  our  attention  is  first  claimed  for 
Germany.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  were 
two  home  centres  of  missions  in  our  Fatherland :  Halle  and 
Herrnhut.  But,  as  already  noticed,  the  Danish-Halle  Mission 
was  leading  as  yet  only  a  sickly  existence.  The  State  mis- 
sionary college  in  Copenhagen  had  already  governed  it  half- 
way to  death,  and  in  Germany  rationalism  brought  matters  to 
such  a  pass  that  no  suitable  missionaries  for  India  were  any 
longer  to  be  procured.  Under  the  influence  of  rationalism,  the 
East  Indian  Missionary  Institute  at  Halle  was  gradually  de- 
serted, until  at  length  it  ceased  entirely  to  send  out  messengers. 
To-day  it  has  only  the  name  and  a  capital  of  £12,000  ($57,600), 
with  the  interest  of  which  it  supports  chiefly  the  Leipsic  and 
Gossner  missions. 

85.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  was 
little  affected  by  the  current  of  rationalism,  and  that  not 
only  saved  its  own  missions,  but  also  gave  it  a  great  direct 
and  indirect  influence  upon  the  new  missionary  movements  that 
were  beginning  to  arise  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.     The 


122  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

period  from  1800  to  1832  may,  it  is  true,  be  described  as  "  the 
quiet  time."  The  work  of  missions,  however,  suffered  no  in- 
terruption, and  after  the  centenary  rejoicings  it  began  to  grow 
considerably,  both  inwardly  and  outwardly.  To  the  old  mis- 
sion fields :  West  Indies,  Greenland  (transferred  in  1900  to 
the  Danish  Church),  Labrador,  the  North  American  Indians, 
Surinam,  and  South  Africa,  there  were  now  added  Alaska, 
California,  Moskito  Coast  and  Demerara,  German  East  Africa, 
West  Himalaya,  and  Victoria  and  North  Queensland  in 
Australia;  so  that  now,  inclusive  of  subordinate  districts, 
the  mission  field  of  the  Brethren  includes  20  mission  pro- 
vinces, in  which  they  have  in  all  101,400  Christians  under 
their  care.  There  are  200  missionaries  in  its  service;  the 
income  from  contributions  reaches  £33,500  ($160,800),  whilst 
the  expenditure  exceeds  £85,000  ($408,400).  The  great  excess 
is  met  by  profits  from  trade,  government  subsidies,  and  church 
offerings  in  the  mission  fields.  Out  of  the  large  number  of  its 
well-known  missionaries  let  it  suffice  to  name  David  Nitsch- 
mann,  Frederic  Bonisch,  Matthew  Stach,  Kleinschmidt,  David 
Zeisberger,  Christian  H.  Bauch,  Hallbeck,  Kohlmeister,  Iascke, 
Hagenauer.  Organ :  Missionshlatt  der  Brudcrgemeine,  and 
Periodical  Accounts  relating  to  the  Moravian  Missions. 

86.  In  the  year  1800,  "Father"  Janicke,  preacher  of  the 
Bohemian  Church  in  Berlin,  a  solitary  witness  of  the  Gospel  in 
a  time  of  little  faith,  made  the  beginning  there  towards  a  larger 
participation  by  Germany  in  the  extension  of  Christianity,  by 
founding  a  missionary  school.  Alike  through  his  earlier  con- 
nection with  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  and  through  his 
brother,  who  was  a  missionary  of  Halle  in  the  East  Indies, 
missions  had  for  a  long  time  lain  close  to  Janicke's  heart ;  but 
the  actual  impulse  to  the  opening  of  the  missionary  school  he 
received  from  a  pious  layman,  the  chief  ranger  von  Schirnding 
in  Dobrilugk,  who  on  his  part  had  been  inspired  with  mis- 
sionary stimulus  from  England,  and  had  been  invested  with  the 
office  of  a  director  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  in  Germany. 
From  that  missionary  school,  begun  with  much  prayer  and 
great  boldness  of  faith,  there  went  out,  up  to  the  death  of 
Janicke  in  1827,  about  eighty  missionaries,  many  of  them  very 
able  men,  e.g.  B.  Bhenius,  Nylander,  the  two  Albrechts,  Schmelen, 
Pacalt,  Biedel,  Gutzlaff,  who,  however,  were  appointed  to  the 
service  of  English  and  Dutch  missionary  societies,  since  there 
was  as  yet  no  thought  of  sending  missionaries  out  from  the 
school  itself.  The  school  subsequently  went  to  decay  in  con- 
sequence of  incapable  management,  but  it  gave  an  impulse  to 
the  founding  of  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  which  came  to 
life  in  1824. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    I  23 

87.  The  English  influences  were  more  decided  in  Basel. 
Here  a  preparation  had  been  made  for  missionary  action  by  means 
of  the  "  German  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Pure  Doctrine 
and  True  Godliness,"  called  into  existence  in  1780  by  Augustus 
Urlsperger,  Dean  of  Augsburg,  a  society  which,  in  the  first 
instance,  it  is  true,  had  aimed  only  at  a  union  of  scattered 
believers  and  a  revival  of  dead  Christians.  This  "Deutsche 
Christenthumsgesellschaft,"  which  had  its  seat  in  Basel,  came, 
however,  also  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  the  new  English 
missionary  enterprises,  and  by  the  ample  information  regarding 
these  enterprises  which  it  gave  in  its  organ,  Gatherings  for 
Lovers  of  Christian  Truth,  it  sought  also  to  foster  an  interest 
in  missions  to  the  heathen  within  the  circles  connected  with 
it.  Such  circles  already  existed,  especially  in  Wurtemberg  and 
in  Switzerland,  where  the  old  Danish-Halle  Mission  had  had 
many  friends,  amongst  them  men  so  influential  as  the  court- 
preacher  Samuel  Urlsperger,  father  of  the  Dean  of  Augsburg, 
Prelate  Bengel,  and  Albrecht  von  Haller.  In  these  circles  the 
first  secretaries  of  the  German  Christenthumsgesellschaft, 
Frederic  Steinkopf,  Christian  Gottlieb  Blurnhardt,  and  Christian 
Frederic  Spittler,  who  may  be  said  to  be  the  fathers  of  the  Basel 
Missionary  Society,  found  such  an  intelligent  apprehension  of 
missions  that  in  1815  they  ventured  to  proceed  to  the  founding 
of  a  German  missionary  institute  of  their  own,  and  that  in  Basel. 
True,  here  also  the  beginning  was  in  the  first  instance  only 
with  the  opening  of  a  missionary  school.  Its  first  inspector 
was  Blurnhardt,  who  in  1816  issued  a  quarterly  missionary 
magazine,  Neueste  Magazin  fur  die  Gcschichtc  der  protcstantischen 
Missions-  und  Bibelgcsettschaftcn,  which,  in  somewhat  different 
form,  still  exists  under  the  title  Evangel.  Miss.  Magazin,  and 
has  rendered  incalculable  service  in  the  diffusion  of  missionary 
intelligence  and  the  awakening  and  stimulating  of  missionary 
life  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  But  in  1822  the  missionary 
school,  from  which  in  the  course  of  these  years  eighty-eight 
pupils  had  passed  over  to  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
broadened  into  an  independent  institute  for  sending  forth  mis- 
sionaries. Of  the  many  who  quickened  and  fostered  missionary 
life  in  the  missionary  circles  connected  with  Basel,  the  most 
influential  was  Christian  Gottlieb  Barth.  The  first  missionary 
efforts  were  directed  to  the  revival  of  the  Eastern  churches  in 
the  Bussian  Caucasus  (Zaremba,  Pfander).  These  efforts  were 
gradually  extended  as  far  as  Persia.  But  in  1835  they  were 
brought  to  an  end  by  an  imperial  interdict.  An  enterprise 
begun  in  Liberia  in  1827  had  also  no  abiding  result.  Only 
very  slowly  and  after  overcoming  great  difficulties  was  a  firm 
footing  obtained  on  the  Gold  Coast,  where  to-day  the  Basel 


124  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

mission  field  stretches  into  Ashanti  and  up  to  the  Volta  with 
increasing  success.  In  1834  India  (the  Sonth-West  Coast), 
in  1846  China  (the  Province  of  Canton),  and  in  1886  the 
Cameroon s  were  added.  On  all  these  fields  the  Basel  Mission- 
ary Society  now  maintains  216  missionaries,  and  reckons  50,000 
baptized  Christians  (27,000  communicants),  with  3500  cate- 
chumens and  27,000  scholars  in  its  admirably  organised 
schools.  Its  income  amounts  to  £73,000  ($350,400).  Besides 
the  first  inspector  Blumhardt,  the  society  had  eminently  cap- 
able directors  in  W.  Hoffmann  and  J.  Josenhans.  Amongst  its 
many  able  missionaries  we  name  only  Eiis,  Zimmermann, 
Christaller,  Eamseyer  (Gold  Coast),  H«ibich,  Mogling,  Gundert, 
Weigle,  Moricke  (India),  Lechler  (China).  It  is  a  character- 
istic feature  of  the  Basel  mission  work  that  it  has  combined 
with  it  an  industrial  enterprise  which  is  placed  under  a  special 
missionary  trading  society.  Basel  also  was  the  first  of  the 
German  missionary  societies  to  incorporate  medical  missions  in 
its  operations,  and  of  these  it  gives  every  year  a  special  report. 
In  its  beginning  the  Basel  Mission  united  believing  Chris- 
tians of  both  evangelical  creeds  in  Germany  and  Switzerland  ; 
subsequently  separations  took  place  on  confessional  and  terri- 
torial grounds.  Wurtemberg  and  Switzerland,  however,  pre- 
served the  old  united  relation.  In  spite  of  its  Swiss  centre, 
the  society  has  always  kept  its  German  character.  Organ : 
Der  evangelise/ he  Heidenhote. 

88.  On  account  of  its  local  nearness  to  and  its  historical 
connection  with  the  Basel  Missionary  Society,  we  shall  best 
here  include  the  Pilgrim  Mission  School,  founded  in  1840  by 
Spittler,  a  man  of  agile  spirit,  on  the  Chrischonaberg,  near 
Basel,  which  gradually  developed  into  a  home  and  foreign 
mission  institute.  The  Syrian  Orphanage  in  Jerusalem  was 
established  by  it,  and  the  laying  out  of  an  Apostles'  Street 
between  Jerusalem  and  Gondar  was  planned,  of  which,  however, 
only  two  stations,  and  these  temporary,  were  formed  in  Egypt. 
Missionaries  were  sent  directly  from  the  Chrischona  Institute 
to  Palestine,  Egypt,  and  Abyssinia,  whilst  it  allowed  a  larger 
number  of  its  pupils  to  enter  the  service  of  other  missionary 
societies.  Latterly  the  institute  confined  itself  exclusively  1" 
home  mission  and  evangelistic  work,  and  it  is  only  since  1895 
that  it  has  again  sent  out  some  of  its  envoys  (5)  as  missionaries 
to  the  heathen,  and  this  to  China,  in  loose  connection  with  the 
China  Inland  Mission. 

80.  From  Basel  we  turn  bock  to  Berlin,  where  in  1823 
ten  notable  men,  theologians  (Neander  and  Tholuck),  jurists 
(Bethmann-Hollweg,  Lancizolle,  and  Lecoq)  and  officers  (von 
Gerlach  and  von  Koder)  issued  "  An  Appeal  for  Charitable  Con- 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    125 

tributions  in  Aid  of  Evangelical  Missions,"  the  result  of  which 
was  the  institution  in  1824  of  a  Gesellschaft  zur  Beforderung 
der  evangelischen  Missionen  unter  den  Heiden  (Society  for 
Promoting  E  /angelical  Missions  to  the  Heathen)  (Berlin  I.),  the 
provisions  of  which  received  the  royal  sanction.  As  the  en- 
deavour to  amalgamate  this  society  with  the  missionary  school 
of  Janicke  did  not  succeed,  an  independent  missionary  seminary 
was  founded  in  1830,  and  as  early  as  1834  it  sent  out  its  first 
missionaries  to  South  Africa,  where  the  work,  at  first  indeed 
gradually,  and  after  several  sore  experiences,  entered  on  a 
career  of  blessing.  The  mission  field  there  has  by  degrees 
broadened  out  into  six  well  organised  synods :  Cape  Colony, 
Kaffraria,  Orange  Eiver  Colony,  South  and  North  Transvaal,  and 
Natal.  In  1872  the  work  of  the  old  Berlin  Chinese  Missionary 
Society  in  the  Province  of  Canton,  fonnded  by  Gutzlaff,  was 
taken  over ;  in  1891,  in  German  East  Africa,  the  Konde 
Mission  was  begun,  which  has  already  extended  to  the  Wahehe, 
and  in  1902  there  was  added  the  district  of  Usaramo,  taken 
over  from  Berlin  III.  Altogether  the  society  registers  125 
missionaries,  but  its  income  of  about  £31,500  ($151,200)  does 
not  meet  its  growing  needs.  The  total  number  of  baptized 
native  Christians  under  its  care  is  52,000  (25,500  communi- 
cants), with  4000  catechumens.  Its  confessional  position  is 
the  Lutheran  within  the  United  Church.  It  had  gifted  and 
energetic  directors  in  Wallmann  and  Wangemann,  and  in 
Ahlfeld,  Knack,  Giirke,  Licht,  men  of  power  for  awakening  and 
fostering  missionary  life  at  home.  Out  of  the  number  of  its 
able  missionaries  we  name  only  the  original  Posselt,  the  philo- 
logist D.  Kropf,  and  D.  Merensky.  Organ  :  Die  Berliner 
Missions-Berichte. 

90.  As  early  as  1799  a  little  union  of  twelve  pious  laymen 
(Pelzer,  Ball)  was  formed  at  Elberfeld,  for  the  purpose  of  inter- 
cession for  missions  to  the  heathen.  After  some  time  it  issued 
the  periodical,  Nachrichten  von  der  Ausbreitung  des  Reiches  Jem 
insbesondere  unter  den  Heiden.  Gradually  the  union  was  en- 
larged by  accessions  of  members  from  without ;  it  founded  the 
Bergische  Bible  Society  and  the  Tract  Society  of  W  upper  thai, 
and  began  mission  work  among  the  Jews,  which  led  to  the 
founding  of  a  home  for  proselytes  in  Diisselthal,  which,  however, 
was  given  up  in  1828.  On  the  initiative  of  Blumhardt,  the  Basel 
inspector,  a  missionary  society  came  into  existence  in  Barmen 
in  1819.  At  first  it  was  united  with  Basel,  but  in  1828  (after 
it  had  already  in  1825  opened  a  missionary  school)  it  joined 
with  Elberfeld,  Cologne,  and  Wesel  to  found  a  Bhenish  Mis- 
sionary Association  of  their  own.  Amid  great  popular  interest 
the  first  four  missionaries  were  appointed  to  South  Africa  in 


126  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

1829,  where  the  Ehenish  mission  field  now  extends  over  Cape 
Colony,  Namaland,  Hereroland,  and  a  part  of  Ovamboland.  In 
1834  a  further  mission  was  undertaken  to  Borneo,  in  1862  on 
the  neighbouring  island  of  Sumatra,  in  18G5  on  Nias,  and  in 
1901  on  some  islands  on  the  west  coast  of  Sumatra  ;  in  1846  a 
mission  was  begun  in  China,  and  in  1887  in  Kaiser  Wilhelms- 
land.  Whilst  in  China,  where  the  work  was  for  a  lengthened 
period  considerably  reduced,  an  advance  has  begun  within  recent 
years ;  in  Borneo  there  is  still  always  the  expectation  of  the 
opening  of  a  great  door ;  in  New  Guinea  the  first  baptism  only 
took  place  in  1904 ;  and  the  Herero  mission  is  almost  threat- 
ened with  destruction  in  consequence  of  the  rising  of  1904 ; 
the  harvest  is  growing  in  a  surprising  measure  in  Sumatra  and 
Nias  ;  and  the  Cape  congregations  are  at  least  financially  inde- 
pendent. Of  the  100,000  baptized  native  Christians  (43,500 
communicants,  with  14,000  catechumens)  connected  with  the 
society,  61,000,  with  10,000  catechumens,  are  in  Sumatra.  160 
missionaries,  including  4  medical  missionaries,  besides  19  female 
missionaries,  are  in  its  service,  and  its  income  amounts  to 
£42,300  ($203,040).  Amongst  the  inspectors  of  the  society, 
besides  Wallmann,  Fabri  has  become  the  best  known,  and 
Schreiber  the  most  successful.  Of  its  missionaries,  Hugo 
Hahn,  the  founder  of  the  Herero  Mission ;  Nommensen,  the 
father  of  the  mission  to  the  Bataks  (despite  the  sending  of  Van 
Asselt  to  Sumatra  in  the  Fifties  by  an  Amsterdam  Women's 
Association),  and  Dr.  E.  Faber,  the  Chinese  missionary,  who 
latterly  entered  the  service  of  the  General  Evangelical  Pro- 
testant Missionary  Society,  deserve  to  be  specially  mentioned. 
In  the  history  of  its  missionary  life  at  home  the  "  Pietist- 
General  "  Volkening  of  Minden-Eavensberg  occupies  the  most 
important  place.  As  in  Basel,  so  in  Barmen,  the  ecclesiastical 
circumstances  of  the  home  church  have  led  to  the  society  being 
divested  of  an  expressly  confessional  character,  and  by  wise 
compromise  it  has  up  till  now  succeeded  in  keeping  the 
Lutheran  and  Eeformed  parties  in  peaceable  confederation. 
Organ  :  Berichte  der  rheinischen  Missions-Gesellschaft. 

91.  The  confessional  epiestion  presented  greater  difficulties 
to  the  North  German  (Bremen)  Missionary  Society  than  to 
the  Ehenish.  In  1836  seven  North  German  missionary 
associations,  amongst  them  that  of  Bremen,  constituted  them- 
selves in  Hamburg  as  the  North  German  Missionary  Society. 
To  that  society  from  time  to  time  39  other  societies  attached 
themselves,  extending  from  East  Frisia,  where  since  1802  a 
"Mission  Society  of  the  Mustard  Seed"  had  been  established 
•it  the  instigation  of  the  Church  of  the  Brethren  and  the 
LondoB   Missionary  Society,  to  the  Russian  provinces  on  the 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    12/ 

Baltic  In  1837  a  missionary  school  came  to  life  in  Hamburg. 
In  1842  the  first  missionaries  were  sent  out  to  New  Zealand ; 
in  1843  a  short-lived  mission  to  India  was  founded,  and  in  1847 
a  further  mission  amongst  the  Evhes  in  West  Africa.  In- 
creasing confessional  friction,  however,  hindered  a  prosperous 
development  at  home.  A  large  section  of  the  society  separated 
from  it  to  join  the  Lutheran  Leipsic  Missionary  Society,  another 
to  unite  with  that  of  Herrmannsburg,  founded  later  by  Harms. 
The  management  of  the  mission  was  transferred  to  Bremen,  where 
Mallet  and  Vietor  were  its  chief  promoters,  and  since  then  dis 
sension  has  ceased.  The  society  has  no  missionary  school  <x 
its  own,  but  draws  its  missionaries  from  Basel,  with  which  it 
occupies  the  same  ecclesiastical  position,  allowing  them  to  be 
educated  at  the  seminary  there.  Its  only  mission  field  at 
present  is  West  Africa,  where  painful  sacrifices  are  continu- 
ally required  by  the  deadly  climate,  to  which  almost  the  half  of 
the  labourers  succumb,  often  after  a  short  time.  It  has  lost  65 
men  and  women  by  death.  These  losses  involve  great  inter- 
ruption in  the  continuity  of  the  work,  especially  as  the  little 
society  has  only  a  small  number  of  missionaries  at  its  disposal 
(at  present  20).  For  38  years  (1861-1900)  Michael  Zahn  was 
the  inspector  of  this  mission,  a  man  of  great  merit,  with  sound 
theories,  who  interposed  in  many  illumining  ways  in  the  whole 
sphere  of  missions.  The  total  number  of  Evhe  Christians  is 
4500,  that  of  scholars  is  about  3000,  the  income  about  £8500 
($40,800).  Organ :  Monatsblatt  der  Norddeutschen  Missions- 
Gesellschaft. 

92.  Confessional  reasons  led  to  the  founding  in  1836  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Missionary  Society  at  Dresden  (later  in 
Leipsic).  Already  since  1819  a  missionary  society  existed  in 
Dresden  which  had  been  formed  in  connection  with  Basel.  But 
just  in  proportion  as  the  Lutheran  confessional  consciousness 
awoke  to  stronger  life  in  Saxony,  the  cooler  became  the  relations 
with  Basel,  although  there  it  had  already  been  declared 
that  pupils  from  Saxony  would  be  ordained  according  to 
Lutheran  ritual.  Hence  in  1832  a  preparatory  missionary 
school  was  first  opened,  then  in  1836  a  regular  missionary 
seminary  and  an  independent  evangelical  Lutheran  missionary 
society  was  constituted.  It  was  first,  however,  through  Graul, 
who  was  appointed  director  in  1844,  that  this  society  received 
its  peculiar  impress.  He  was  as  resolute  an  ecclesiastic  as  he 
was  a  thoroughly  equipped  theologian,  as  diligent  an  investi- 
gator of  missions  as  he  was  sober  in  his  theories  of  missions, 
and  a  man  of  energetic  character.  He  aimed  at  nothing  less 
than  to  make  the  Dresden  Society  the  centre  of  the  missionary 
work  of  the  whole  Lutheran  Church ;   that  work  was  to  be 


128  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

carried  on  m  accordance  with  its  confession.  In  this,  however, 
he  only  partially  succeeded.  Besides  Saxony,  Bavaria,  Meck- 
lenburg, Hannover,  the  Bussian  provinces  on  the  Baltic,  and  the 
Old  Lutheran  Church  of  Prussia  formed  the  principal  constitu- 
ency of  the  society.  Soon  after  entering  on  his  directorate, 
Graul  issued  a  vigorous  pamphlet,  The  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Mission  of  Dresden  to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  all 
Lands.  A  Plain  Statement  and  an  Urgent  Admonition.  For- 
wards or  Backwards.  With  the  clearness  of  a  conscious  aim  he 
went  on  his  way.  He  first  divested  the  local  society  of  Dresden 
of  its  dominant  influence,  then  he  carried  through  the  trans- 
ference of  the  Mission  Institute  to  Leipsic  in  1848 ;  he  also 
secured  the  decision  that  only  theologians  of  university  train- 
ing should  be  sent  out,  a  principle  which,  it  is  true,  had  later 
to  be  abandoned ;  lastly,  he  made  a  journey  of  visitation  to 
India  extending  over  some  years  (1849-1853).  He  had  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  Tamulese,  entered  with  loving  sympathy 
into  the  intellectual  life  of  the  people,  and  interpreted  its 
literary  productions  with  poetic  power  (Bibliotheca  Tamulica). 
By  his  criticism  of  missions  also,  albeit  often  somewhat  harsh, 
he  has  gained  for  himself  not  a  little  merit  in  connection  with 
the  writing  of  missionary  history. 

After  attempting  some  mission  work  in  South  Australia  and 
amongst  the  North  American  Indians,  which  proved  only  tem- 
porary, the  Leipsic  Society  entered  in  1840  upon  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  old  Danish-Halle  Mission  among  the  Tamuls,  so 
far  as  that  had  not  already  been  occupied  by  the  English. 
After  much  friction  and  disputing,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
over  the  question  of  caste,  in  regard  to  which  perhaps  an 
attitude  of  too  gentle  tolerance  was  adopted,  the  work  entered 
on  a  fruitful  career.  Up  till  1892  the  society  confined  itself 
to  its  Indian  mission  field  among  the  Tamuls.  Then  it  took 
over  the  Wakamba  Mission  in  East  Africa,  which  had  been 
founded  by  a  Bavarian  society,  and  soon  afterwards  opened 
quite  a  new  mission  on  German  territory  in  Kilimandscharo. 
It  has  to-day  altogether  64  missionaries  in  its  service,  21,700 
baptized  Christians,  with  200  catechumens,  11,000  scholars, 
and  an  income  of  £31,000  ($148,800).  Organ:  Evangelisch- 
lutherisches  Missionsblatt. 

93.  The  year  1836  was  fruitful  in  the  foundation  of  new 
missionary  societies  in  Germany.  In  that  year  Gossner  left 
the  committee  of  the  Berlin  South  African  Society,  as  he  was 
opposed  to  the  increasing  emphasis  which  was  set  on  the  con- 
fessional element,  also  to  the  purchase  of  a  mission-house,  and 
further,  to  the  growing  insistence  on  the  scientific  education  of 
missionaries.     He  was  also  of  opinion  that,  after  the  example  of 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    1 29 

Paul,  the  missionaries  of  to-day  should  share  the  care  for  their 
maintenance  by  working  with  their  own  hands,  a  principle 
which,  amongst  his  missionary  ideas,  was  the  first  to  prove 
untenable.  Accordingly,  although  an  old  man  of  63,  he  began 
a  mission  of  his  own,  in  which  he  privately  prepared  young 
artisans,  who  were  directed  to  him,  for  missionary  service, 
confining  himself  to  their  instruction  in  Scripture  and  the 
deeper  grounding  of  their  personal  piety.  In  the  course  of 
the  first  ten  years  Gossner  sent  out  no  fewer  than  80  mission- 
aries to  Australia,  British  and  Dutch  India,  North  America, 
and  West  Africa,  many  of  whom  passed  into  the  service  of  other 
missionary  societies.  He  himself  was  all  in  all :  "  Inspector, 
House-father,  Secretary,  and  Pack-ass,"  as  he  was  wont  humor- 
ously to  say,  and  "  rang  the  prayer  bell  rather  than  the  begging 
bell."  After  joining  with  the  kin-souled  Dutchman  Heldring. 
he  sent  in  the  second  ten  years  25  workers  to  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  and  33  to  the  fields  which  he  had  himself  entered 
earlier,  especially  to  India  on  the  Ganges,  and  to  the  Kols. 
On  his  death  in  1858  the  management  was  put  into  the  hands 
of  a  Board  of  Administration,  an  inspector  was  appointed,  and, 
principally  during  the  inspectorate  of  Plath,  one  after  another 
his  peculiar  ideas  were  abandoned,  so  that  to-day  the  Gossner 
Mission  is  entirely  without  the  characteristic  features  which 
distinguished  it  at  its  origin.  At  present  the  Gossner  Mis- 
sionary Society  (Berlin  II.)  carries  on  only  the  mission  on  the 
Ganges,  and  more  particularly  the  very  successful  mission  to  the 
Kols.  It  has  46  missionaries,  64,000  baptized  Christians,  19,000 
catechumens,  and  an  income  of  about  £11,800  ($56,840). 
Organ :  Die  Biene  aiif  dem  Missionsfelde. 

94.  The  Hermannsburg  Mission,  like  the  Gossner,  owes  its 
origin  and  its  impress  to  the  earnest  faith  and  the  originality 
of  a  singular  man,  Ludwig  Harms,  the  popular  pastor  of  the 
village  congregation,  which  underwent  a  revival  through  his 
ministry,  at  Hermannsburg,  in  Luneburg  Moor.  He  had  early 
entered  into  connection  with  the  North  German  Missionary 
Society,  which  would  gladly  have  appointed  him  as  teacher  in 
its  missionary  school.  Two  things,  however,  gradually  and  in- 
creasingly loosened  that  bond  :  the  strong  Lutheran  confessional 
tendency  which  mastered  the  whole  spiritual  life  of  Harms, 
and  a  kind  of  mediasval  missionary  ideal  that  the  Christianis- 
ing of  nations  could  be  accomplished  most  safely  and  most 
economically  by  sending  out  whole  missionary  colonies.  When 
a  number  of  young  sons  of  the  peasantry  offered  themselves  to 
him  for  missionary  service,  and  when  the  confessional  friends 
of  missions  directly  invited  him  to  open  a  Lutheran  mission 
institute,  he  began  operations  in  1849,  and  after  four  years' 
9 


130  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tuition  sent  his  first  twelve  pupils,  accompanied  by  eight 
colonists,  on  a  missionary  vessel  of  their  own,  to  East  Africa, 
where,  however,  they  had  to  settle  in  Natal  instead  of  amongst 
the  Gallas.  Every  four  years,  and  latterly,  after  the  building 
of  a  second  mission-house,  every  two  years,  large  numbers  con- 
tinued to  be  sent  out,  and  that  not  merely  to  South-East  Africa, 
but  also  to  India,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  The  colonisation 
ideas  have  long  ago  been  abandoned  as  impracticable,  and  the 
first  missionary  ship  has  not  been  replaced  by  a  second.  A 
serious  crisis  befel  the  mission  by  the  separation  of  the  Her- 
mannsburg  congregation  (from  the  State  church),  caused  by 
Theodore  Harms  in  the  beginning  of  the  Seventies.  But  the 
crisis  was  overcome  without  any  real  injury  to  the  mission, 
inasmuch  as,  after  the  death  of  Th.  Harms,  judicious  mutual 
advances  led  to  a  friendly  compromise  with  the  provincial  church 
of  Hannover.  Only  a  few  missionaries  and  congregations  in 
South  Africa,  Australia,  and  New  Zealand  did  not  fall  in  with 
that  compromise.  The  former  joined  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Free  Church  of  Hannover,  which  seceded  from  the  separated 
Hermannsburgers.  This  ecclesiastical  body,  with  a  member- 
ship of  only  about  3000,  contributes  £1300  ($6240)  annually 
for  its  little  South  African  Mission,  carried  on  with  9  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Bechuanas  and  the  Zulus  (5000  baptized 
Christians).  The  Hermannsburg  Australian  Mission  was  taken 
over  by  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Immanuel  Synod  in  Australia ; 
the  New  Zealand  Mission  appears  to  have  been  entirely  given 
up.  Thus  at  present  there  are  Hermannsburg  Missions  (with 
the  exception  of  a  small  mission  in  Persia)  only  in  South 
Africa  and  India,  with  in  all  63  missionaries  and  62,000  baptized 
native  Christians  (with  2000  catechumens),  of  whom  the  largest 
proportion  (52,000)  belongs  to  the  particularly  successful 
Bechuana  Mission.  The  income  amounts  to  £20,000  ($96,000). 
Organ :  Hermantisburger  Missionsblatt. 

95.  Thus  within  thirty  years  (apart  from  the  Church  of 
the  Brethren)  seven  German  missionary  societies,  with 
capabilities  of  growth,  took  their  rise.  In  the  little  circles 
of  Pietism,  in  which  they  all  had  their  origin,  there  must 
have  lain  a  mighty  power  of  life,  in  that  they  were  able  to  set 
such  enterprises  in  operation.  The  energy  of  this  young 
missionary  life  certainly  had  the  benefit  of  the  reaction, 
which,  since  the  time  of  Schleiermacher,  had  taken  place  in 
theology,  and  gradually  in  the  church  also,  in  the  overcoming 
of  rationalism,  in  room  of  which  came,  along  with  a  theological 
science  quickened  from  Scriptural  sources,  a  church  life 
inspired  by  the  old  faith  in  the  Bible,  and  which  felt  a  need 
of  practical  work.     This  reaction  did  not  indeed,  in  the  first 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    131 

instance,  influence  public  opinion  in  favour  of  the  derided 
missionary  efforts,  but  it  began  to  alter  the  attitude  of  the 
official  representatives  of  the  church,  so  that  from  being- 
opponents  of  missions  they  at  length  began  to  become  their 
supporters,  a  change  which  very  much  facilitated  the  begin- 
nings of  home  mission  work.  And  it  was  time  for  that  change, 
so  that  both  missions  and  the  church  might  be  saved  from 
harm, — missions,  in  that  they  might  not,  through  living  in  a 
conventicle  atmosphere,  contract  a  measure  of  sickly  narrow- 
heartedness,  perhaps  a  separatist  character ;  the  church,  in 
that  it  might  not,  by  hardening  itself  against  one  of  its  life- 
tasks,  rob  itself  of  an  enriching  blessing. 

In  the  first  instance  the  young  missionary  life  of  Germany 
concentrated  and  consolidated  itself  round  the  eight  missionary 
societies  which  have  been  named.  Gradually  each  organised 
for  itself  a  constituency,  which  formed  for  it  the  missionary 
church  at  home ;  missionary  associations  and  mission  festivals 
multiplied ;  missionary  views  became  clearer,  and  the  societies 
themselves  grew  stronger.  It  was  well  that  for  almost  twenty 
years  there  was  a  pause  in  the  founding  of  new  societies,  and 
it  is  still  open  to  doubt  if  the  new  societies  formed  after  that 
interval  were  a  real  necessity,  and  have  contributed  more  of 
blessing  to  missions  than  if  the  existing  older  societies,  which 
had  gradually  acquired  a  rich  experience  through  their  labours, 
had  been  enlarged  so  as  to  take  into  their  hands  the  new  tasks. 

96.  In  1842  the  Berlin  Ladies'  Association  for  the  Christian 
Education  of  Women  in  the  East  was  instituted  (Frauen-Verein 
fur  christliche  Bildung  des  weiblichen  Geschlechts  im  Morgen- 
lande);  in  1850,  through  the  influence  of  Gutzlaff,  the  Berlin 
Ladies'  Association  for  China  (Frauen-Verein  fiir  China) ;  in 
1852  the  Jerusalem  Association  (Jerusalem- Verein).  All 
three,  however,  do  very  limited  work :  the  first,  by  the  agency 
of  unrnarried  teachers  (at  present  nine),  whom  it  sends  to  India 
in  connection  with  the  missions  of  the  Church  of  England  ; 
the  second,  by  means  of  a  foundling  hospital,  which  it  main- 
tains in  Hong-Kong ;  the  third,  by  means  of  evangelistic  and 
educational  labours,  which,  along  with  a  benevolent  care  for 
evangelical  Germans  in  Palestine,  it  carries  on  at  five  stations 
with  four  missionaries,  among  the  corrupt  Oriental  Christians 
(400  evangelicals),  with  increasing  support  from  home  circles 
since  the  visit  of  the  German  Emperor.  Income,  £6000 
($28,800).  Organs:  Missions- Blatt  des  Frauen-Vereins  fur 
Bildung,  etc. ;  Mitteilungen  des  Berliner  Frauen-  Vereins  fiir 
China ;  Neueste  Nachrichten  avs  don  Morgenlande.  In  loose 
connection  with  the  Berlin  Ladies'  Association  there  was 
formed   some  years  ago  a  "  German  Mission   for  the  Blind 


132  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

among  the  women  of  China,"  with  its  seat  at  Hildesheim,  which 
supports  one  female  missionary. 

97.  Two  somewhat  larger  new  missionary  societies  were 
founded  in  1877  and  1882, — the  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  has 
its  centre  in  Breklum  ;  and  the  Neukirchen,  in  Neukirchen,  near 
Mors,  in  the  Ehine  province.  Both  of  these  owe  their  foundation 
to  the  personal  incitement  of  two  men,  Pastors  Jensen  and  Doll. 
The  former  was  prompted  by  a  territorial  motive,  namely,  the 
wish  to  have  a  mission  institute  in  the  province.  With  Doll 
the  founding  of  the  seciety  was  in  the  first  instance  the  issue  of 
a  vow  made  during  a  severe  illness,  but  along  with  this  there 
was  in  play  the  inclination  to  have  in  Germany  an  institution 
representing  the  standpoint  of  the  so-called  Faith  Mission,  which 
should  furnish  a  working  centre  for  circles  of  free  church  ten- 
dency in  Khineland  and  Westphalia;  but  over  against  the 
English-American  Faith  Missions  the  attitude  of  the  Neukirehen 
society  has  become  more  and  more  one  of  missionary  sobriety. 
The  Schleswig-Holstein  Missionary  Society  has  an  income  of 
£9000  ($43,200),  and  at  present  maintains  14  missionaries 
in  India  (Telegu  and  Jaipur,  7000  baptized  native  Christians, 
with  7800  catechumens).  The  Neukirehen  Society  contributes 
for  missionary  purposes  £3900  ($18,720),  and  has  20  missionaries 
in  Java  and  British  East  Africa  (2000  baptized  Christians,  with 
225  catechumens).  Organs :  Schleswig-Holstein  Missionsblatt 
and  Der  Missions-  und  Heidenbote. 

98.  In  1884,  on  the  initiative  of  Buss,  from  Switzerland, 
there  was  founded  the  Allgemeiner  ev.  prot.  Missionsverein 
(General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Society),  which 
has  its  seat  in  Berlin.  This  society,  which  seeks  to  labour 
exclusively  among  civilised  peoples,  and  principally  among 
their  upper  classes,  and  that  according  to  a  new  and  magnifi- 
cently planned  missionary  method,  which  lays  special  stress 
upon  literary  work  and  scientific  instruction,  differs  from  the 
rest  of  missionary  societies  by  its  liberal  theological  stand- 
point, albeit  maintaining  a  peacefully  tolerant  attitude  towards 
the  "  Pietistic"  missions  of  the  old  order.  Up  till  now  its  in- 
fluence at  home  and  its  success  abroad  have  been  little.  Since 
the  death  of  its  most  eminent  worker,  Dr.  Faber,  who  passed 
into  its  service  in  1885,  from  the  Khenish  Mission,  it  has  in  its 
service  6  missionaries  in  Japan  and  in  China,  and  until  now 
only  in  the  former  about  200  baptized  Christians.  Its  income 
is  about  £3850  ($18,480).  Organ:  Zeitschrift  fur  Mi&sions- 
kunde  und  Eeligionswissenschaft  {Z.  M.  li.). 

99.  A  fresh  impulse  to  the  founding  of  missionary  societies 
has  been  given  in  the  era  of  German  colonisation  since  1885. 
In  the  first  storm  and-stress  period  of  that  era,  some  fanatical 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    I  33 

advocates  of  the  colonial  policy,  who  had  no  understanding  of 
missionary  work  and  no  interest  in  missions  other  than  that 
of  a  national  and  commercial  egoism,  went  so  far  as  to  demand 
that  German  Protestantism  should,  in  order  to  serve  the 
Fatherland,  abandon  all  its  former  missions  and  concentrate 
its  whole  missionary  strength  upon  the  German  colonies. 
Even  in  certain  circles  friendly  to  missions  men  lost  their 
heads,  and  in  rash  excess  of  zeal  entered  into  perilous 
alliances.  It  was  only  by  degrees  that  missionary  sobriety 
gained  the  upper  hand,  but  not  before  some  new  societies  had 
been  founded.  The  Lutheran  Bavarian  Missionary  Society 
(Pastor  Ittamaier),  it  is  true,  united  afterwards  with  the 
Leipsic  Mission;  but  the  Berlin  Evangelical  Missionary 
Society  for  East  Africa  (Berliner  Evang.  M.-G.  fur  Ostafrika), 
founded  by  Pastor  Diestelkamp  in  1886  (Berlin  III.),  fought  its 
way  through  all  critical  stages,  and,  after  its  connection  with 
von  Bodelschwingh,  came  gradually  into  regular  and  sound 
methods  of  procedure.  After  transferring  Usaramo  to  Berlin 
I.,  it  carries  on  work  only  in  Usambara.  At  present  it  has, 
besides  6  deacons,  12  missionaries  (all  theologians),  and  an 
income  of  £5500  ($26,400).  Its  success  is  now  exhibiting 
a  happy  increase  (600  baptized  +  200  eatechumens).  Organ  : 
Nachrichten  aus  der  ostafrik.  Mission. 

100.  After  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  situation  had  been 
brought  about,  the  older  societies  began  extensive  mission 
work  in  the  German  colonies.  The  Pthenish  and  North 
German  Missionary  Societies  were  already  labouring  in  such 
colonies  (German  South-West  Africa  and  Togoland),  and 
needed  only  to  expand  their  labour.  But  entirely  new 
missions  were  undertaken  in  Cameroon  (Basel),  in  German 
East  Africa  (Berlin  I.,  the  Moravians,  and  Leipsic),  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  Land  (Neuendettelsau  and  Barmen) ;  Neukirchen, 
which  had  occupied  Eiji,  was  driven  by  unexpected  adjust- 
ments of  colonial  policy  into  the  English  sphere  of  influence. 
The  Neuendettelsau  Society  for  Home  and  Foreign  Missions,  a 
society  adhering  to  the  Lutheran  Church,  did  not  first  come 
to  life  through  the  German  colonial  movement.  As  early  as 
the  Forties  it  had  done  missionary  work,  in  association  with 
Lutheran  immigrants,  among  the  Indians  in  America,  and 
from  1885  among  the  Papuas  of  Australia,  in  association  with 
the  Immanuel  Synod ;  but  the  mission  begun  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  Land  in  1885  was  its  first  independent  enterprise. 
It  now  supports  15  missionaries  at  a  cost  of  £3250  ($15,600). 
Organ  :  Kirchliche  Mitteilungen  aus  und  iiber  Nordamerika, 
Australian,  und  Ncuguinea.  Thus  in  barely  ten  years  all 
the  German  colonies  were   occupied  by  German  evangelical 


134  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

missions,  although  not  completely  enough.  It  is  beyond  doubt 
that  the  colonial  movement  has  quickened  a  new  missionary 
movement  iu  our  Fatherland;  only,  it  is  still  much  to  be 
desired  that  this  missionary  movement  might  take  hold  in- 
creasingly of  such  circles  of  the  people  as  have  hitherto  kept 
aloof  from  missions. 

101.  Within  the  last  decade  there  has  set  in  a  new  mission- 
ary movement,  which  not  only  threatens  to  split  German 
missionary  life  into  fractional  divisions,  but  also  threatens  the 
conduct  of  German  missions  with  a  grave  inward  peril.  First 
of  all,  in  connection  with  the  China  Inland  and  Alliance  Mis- 
sions, four  branches  have  been  established  separate  from 
one  another :  the  Chrischona  Mission  already  mentioned 
(with  5  agents);  the  Kiel  China  Mission,  from  which,  how- 
ever, the  China  Inland  Mission  has  severed  itself,  and  which 
is  now  only  a  mere  personal  undertaking  of  Pastor  Witt 
(with  4  missionaries  and  some  young  women) ;  the  German 
branch  of  the  China  Inland  Mission,  with  its  headquarters  in 
Liebenzell  (Wurtemberg),  under  Pastor  Cbrper  (with  4  mission- 
aries and  4  young  women) ;  and  the  Barmen  German  Alliance 
Mission,  under  Polnick,  a  merchant  (with  12  missionaries  and 
4  young  women)  :  all  of  them  together  with  an  income  of  about 
£4000  ($192,000).  To  these  there  have  still  to  be  added  two 
young  Mohammedan  missions :  the  German  Orient  Mission 
under  Dr.  Lepsius  (Berlin),  and  the  so-called  Soudan  Pioneer 
Mission  under  the  direction  of  Pastor  Ziernendorff  (Wiesbaden). 
Both  of  these  societies  are  still  in  their  beginnings.  The  first 
has  broken  ground  in  Bulgaria,  Armenia,  and  Persia,  but  spends 
the  chief  part  of  its  income  (£7000,  $33,600)  upon  its  Armenian 
relief  work.  Organ:  Der christliehe  Orient.  The  second,  which 
has  already  passed  through  all  sorts  of  crises,  seeks  to  advance 
from  Assuan  by  way  of  Khartoum  up  the  Nile  into  Gallaland 
with  2  missionaries  (!),  and  administers  an  income  of  £825 
($3960).  Organ :  Der  Sudan- Pionicr.  A  third  mission,  pro- 
posed by  the  Armenian  Amirchanjanz,  after  his  secession  from 
the  Mohammedan  mission  planned  by  Lepsius,  has  not  passed 
beyond  the  stage  of  proposal.  Finally,  there  is  to  be  noted  a 
missionary  society  of  the  German  Baptists  in  Berlin,  which  has 
9  (+  5)  missionaries  labouring  in  the  Cameroons,  and  au  income 
of  £3500  ($16,800),  and  a  branch  society  of  the  German 
Methodists,  which  aids  the  Methodist  Mission  in  Togo  and  in 
the  Bismarck  Archipelago  both  by  subsidy  and  by  sending  out 
some  German  missionaries. 

With  a  view  to  the  fostering  of  missionary  life  at  home, 
there  have  been  instituted,  since  the  end  of  the  Seventies, 
a  series  of  (now  20)  Provincial  Missionary  Conferences,  whose 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  35 

task  consists  principally  in  introducing  the  mission-workers  at 
home,  foremost  among  them  the  pastors,  into  the  knowledge  and 
understanding  of  missions,  as  well  as  into  practical  work  for 
them  in  the  congregations.  The  most  of  these  conferences  are 
meeting-points  for  the  friends  of  the  different  missionary 
societies,  and  in  this  way  the  nurseries  of  an  ecumenical  mis- 
sionary sentiment. 

102.  If  we  survey  the  entire  service  which  Germany, 
including  Switzerland  so  far  as  connected  with  Basel,  renders 
to  foreign  missions,  it  stands — by  no  means  in  respect  of  the 
sterling  quality  of  its  work,  but  in  regard  to  the  number  of  its 
missionaries  and  the  amount  of  its  income — far  behind  that 
of  England  and  America.  It  has,  however,  taken  a  welcome 
upward  movement.  In  the  course  of  the  last  ten  years  the 
number  of  German  missionaries  has  increased  by  almost  300, 
that  of  native  Christians  under  their  care  by  about  200,000, 
and  the  income  by  about  £100,000  ($480,000). 

Total  number  of  German  missionaries,  1000 ;  of  baptized 
native  Christians,  457,000,  with  58,000  catechumens ;  and 
income  about  £300,000  ($1,440,000).  The  German  missions 
have  in  their  service,  exclusive  of  about  100  Kaisers werth 
sisters  labouring  in  the  East,  90  unmarried  lady  missionaries  ; 
there  are  17  medical  missionaries,  including  2  in  the  service  of 
the  German  Orient  Mission. 

Section  4.  Holland 

103.  In  Holland,  after  the  old  Government  Mission  had 
fallen  into  complete  decay,  and  there  had  actually  come  in  its 
stead  through  the  blindness  of  colonial  politics  an  official 
patronage  of  Mohammedanism,  a  missionary  society  of  the  new 
order  was  founded  earlier  than  in  Germany.  The  political 
conditions  were  as  unfavourable  as  could  be ;  at  home,  Holland 
was  in  vassalage  to  France,  and  its  colonies  were  being  taken 
from  it  by  the  English.  In  that  time  of  humiliation  God 
opened  the  ear  of  a  little  circle  of  devout  preachers  and  lay- 
men in  Eotterdam  to  an  address  issued  by  the  young  London 
Missionary  Society,  so  that,  chiefly  in  consequence  of  the 
energetic  instigation  of  Van  der  Kemp,  then  in  his  fiftieth 
year,  they  took  courage  to  found  the  Nederlandsche  Zende- 
iinggenootschaft  vorvoort  planting  en  bevordering  van  het 
Christendom  bijzonder  onder  de  heidenen  (19th  December 
1797).  This  society  was  constituted  quite  on  the  model  of 
the  London  M.  S.,  except  that  from  the  beginning  a  certain 
connection  was  established  with  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church. 
At  first  it  did  not  seek  to  be  more  than  an  auxiliary  of  this 


136  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

society,  in  whose  service  Van  der  Kemp,  Kicherer,  and  several 
other  Dutchmen  went  to  South  Africa,  where,  indeed,  the 
colonial  government  made  life  very  unpleasant  for  them.  In 
1816  a  mission  seminary  was  opened  in  Berkel,  which  in 
1821  was  transferred  to  Eotterdam,  and  was  made  use  of  even 
by  pupils  of  Janecke  and  Basel.  Even  before  the  Dutch  flag 
again  waved  in  Batavia,  Joseph  Kam  had  gone  to  India  in 
1813  under  an  agreement  with  the  colonial  government,  which 
paid  his  salary,  and  had  been  appointed  in  Amboina  as  preacher 
to  the  Dutch  and  Malay  congregations.  He  found  these  con- 
gregations in  a  state  of  deplorable  neglect.  When  he  was  sent 
out  there  was  only  one  single  Dutch  preacher  in  the  vast 
colonial  empire.  Kam  exerted  all  his  energy  in  the  first 
instance  to  revive  the  old  congregations,  but  he  also  did  such 
diligent  mission  work  among  the  heathen  that  he  has  been 
called  the  Apostle  of  the  Moluccas.  By  degrees  the  Dutch 
Missionary  Society  extended  its  labours  beyond  the  Moluccas 
to  Timor,  the  South  West  Islands,  the  Celebes,  Java  (where 
Jellesma  laid  the  basis  of  the  prosperous  work  in  Modjowarno), 
and  Sumatra  (Deli),  with  especial  success  in  Minahassa,  on 
Celebes,  where  one  of  Janecke's  missionaries,  Joh.  Friedr. 
Eiedel,  laboured  with  much  blessing.  The  colonial  government 
hampered  the  missions  in  every  way,  the  democratic  manage- 
ment at  home  left  much  to  be  desired,  and  as  Broad  Churchism 
became  increasingly  paramount  in  it  the  society  declined. 
Many  old  friends  forsook  it ;  the  income  became  inadequate, 
and  even  the  mission  field  where  the  blessing  had  been 
greatest,  that  of  Minahassa,  which  had  become  a  completely 
Christianised  land,  had  to  be  given  over  to  the  Dutch  colonial 
church,  which  at  present  leaves  it  in  charge  of  its  curates. 
The  old  Dutch  Missionary  Society  has  to-day  only  somewhat 
over  13,000  Christians  under  its  care,  chiefly  in  Java  and 
Sawu,  12  missionaries,  and  an  income  of  about  £5000  ($24,000). 
Organ :  Maandberigt  van  het  Ned.  Z.  G.,  partly  also  Mededec- 
lingen  van  ivege  het  Ned.  Z.  G. 

104.  Up  to  the  middle  of  this  century  the  missionary 
activity  of  Holland  was  concentrated  in  the  Nederl.  Z.  G. 
Then  began  a  process  of  division,  which  continues  down  to  the 
most  recent  times,  and  which  has  tended  to  weaken  rather 
than  to  expand  the  missionary  strength  of  Holland.  First  of 
all  the  Anabaptists,  who  since  1824  had  been  almost  in  the 
position  of  an  auxiliary  to  the  English  Baptist  Missionary 
Society,  separated  over  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and  in 
1847  founded  the  Doopsgezinde  Vereeniging  tot  bcvordering 
der  Evangelie-verbreiding  in  der  Nederl.  overseesche  bezit- 
tinuen.     It  has  over  1500  communicants  in  Java  and  Sumatra. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    1 37 

Of  its  few  missionaries  (at  present  6),  Jansz  (senr.)  is  prominent 
as  the  translator  of  the  Bible.  Its  income  is  about  £3250 
($15,600).     Organ :  Jaarsverlag. 

In  the  same  year,  Heldring,  who  has  rendered  such  signal 
service  both  to  the  home  and  foreign  missions  of  Holland, 
instituted  a  new  association  which  he  called  De  Christen- 
Werkman,  and  which  aimed  at  sending  out  plain  artisans  as 
colporteurs,  catechists,  evangelists,  and  also  as  teachers  of  trades 
and  agriculture,  who  were  to  care  for  their  own  maintenance, 
— in  this  resembling  the  like-minded  Gossner,  with  whom,  in- 
deed, he  soon  entered  into  alliance.  But  after  fifty  such  persons 
had  in  the  course  of  ten  years  been  sent  to  different  points  of 
the  Dutch  Indies,  their  unfortunate  experiences  compelled  the 
abandonment  of  the  project.  A  new  society  came  to  life  in 
1855,  called  Het  Java-Comite,  and  formed  the  Nederl.  afdeeling 
van  het  Genootschap  van  in-en  nitwendige  Zending  te  Batavia. 
At  present  it  has  9  missionaries  in  Java  and  Sumatra,  650 
native  Christians,  and  an  income  of  about  £2000  ($9600). 
Organ  :  Geillustreerd  Zend.  Blad. 

Then  in  1856  the  pious  separatist,  Pastor  Witteveen,  at 
Ermelo,  founded  a  church  mission,  which,  however,  flourished 
for  but  a  little  while.  Of  its  missionaries  in  Sumatra  and 
Java,  some  entered  the  service  of  the  Rhenish  Society,  some 
into  that  of  the  Salatiga  Mission  in  connection  with  the 
Neukirchen  Society,  some  into  the  Ver.  tot  nitbreiding  van 
het  evangelic  in  Egypte  (2  missionaries ;  income,  £550  ($2440)). 
The  Ermelo  church,  which  has  split  into  two  separate  camps, 
now  confines  itself  to  being  a  collecting  agency  for  the  Salatiga 
Mission. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  Fifties  the  opposition  to  the 
modern  "  liberal  tendency  "  of  the  Ned.  Zend.  Gen.  became 
ever  stronger.  Not  only  strict  orthodox  men  of  the  Calvinist 
order  (Groen  van  Prinsterer,  da  Costa,  Cappadose),  but  also 
men  of  the  old  Pietist  faith  (Heldring,  Oesterzee,  van  Rhijn), 
and  even  the  Moderate  school  of  Groening  (Hofstede,  Grotius), 
charged  the  directorate  of  this  old  society  with  a  departure 
from  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  Bible,  above  all  from  faith 
in  the  Divinity  of  Jesus,  and  as  they  received  only  unsatis- 
factory answers,  separation  followed,  a  portion  of  the  contri- 
butions for  missions  having  for  some  time  previously  been  sent 
to  Paris,  Barmen,  and  Hermannsburg.  Unhappily  this  separa- 
tion was  not  followed  by  united  action,  but  by  the  founding  of 
three  new  missionary  societies :  the  Nederl.  Zend.  Vereeniging 
(1858),  the  Utrechtsche  Zend.  Ver.  (1859),  and  the  Nederl. 
Gereformeerde  Zend.  Ver.  (1859).  It  would  be  going  too  far 
afield  to  detail  the  slight  differences  of  these  societies.     Up  till 


138  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

now  none  of  them  has  succeeded  in  surpassing  the  old  Ned. 
Z.  G.,  which,  moreover,  is  again  inclining  to  soundness  of  faith. 
The  Nederl.  Z.  V.,  whose  seat  is  in  Eotterdam,  labours  with 
11  missionaries  in  West  Java  (1800  Christians),  and  has  an 
income  of  about  £5000  ($24,000).  Organ :  Orgaan  der  Ned. 
Z.  V.  The  Utrechtsche  Z.  V.  maintains  14  missionaries  in 
Dutch  New  Guinea  (van  Hasselt),  Almaheira,  and  Buru,  has  in 
all  over  4000  Christians,  and  an  income  of  £6000  ($28,800). 
Organ :  Berichten  van  de  Utr.  Z.  V.  The  Gereformeerde 
Z.  V.,  now  the  Gereformeerde  Kerken-Mission,  works  in  Mid- 
Java  and  on  Sumba  with  only  7  missionaries,  and  has  about 
5000  native  Christians.  It  has  great  plans  in  its  mind,  to 
which  unhappily  its  means  are  not  proportionate.  Up  till  the 
present  its  income  reaches  only  about  £3500  ($16,800).  Organ  : 
De  Heidenbode. 

In  1872,  Schuurmann  founded  a  Central  Committee  voor 
oprichting  en  instandhonding  van  een  seminarie  nabij  Batavia 
(in  Depok)  (income  £250),  the  aim  of  which  was  the  training 
of  native  helpers  for  the  whole  Archipelago,  and  which  has 
also  given  the  impulse  to  the  institution  of  general  missionary 
conferences  in  Holland.  Finally,  in  1882,  the  few  Lutherans 
in  Holland  have  founded  a  society  of  their  own,  the  Nederl. 
Luthersch  Genootschap  vor  in-en  nitwendige  Zending.  It 
maintains  2  missionaries  near  Nias  on  the  Balu  Islands,  and 
has  an  income  of  about  £500  ($2400). 

105.  Including  the  Committee  for  the  Sangi  and  Talaut 
Islands,  which  cares  only  for  the  travelling  expenses  and 
equipment  of  the  missionaries  there,  and  the  auxiliary 
societies  for  the  Moravian,  Khenish,  and  Neukirchen  Missions, 
Holland  contributes  annually  for  missions  about  £30,000 
($144,000),  and  supplies  65  missionaries. 

Besides  the  missions  of  these  independent  societies,  how- 
ever, the  church  in  Holland  does  a  work  not  merely  in 
providing  for  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  European  congrega- 
tions in  its  colonies,  but  extending  also  to  the  native  Christians 
in  the  Dutch  Indies.  The  clergymen  are  in  the  service  of 
the  "  Protestant  Church  in  the  Dutch  East  Indies,"  and  are 
described  as  preachers  (36)  and  curates  (26).  To  the  latter, 
many  of  whom  were  formerly  missionaries,  is  assigned  the 
pastoral  charge  of  the  inland,  so-called  settled,  congregations, 
from  which  they  are  able  also  to  do  mission  work.  In  review- 
ing the  missions  in  the  Indian  Archipelago,  we  shall  return  to 
these  relations. 


foundation  and  growth  of  missionary  societies   1 39 

Section  5.  France  and  Fkench  Switzerland 

106.  The  religious  revival  which  quickened  missionary  life 
in  England,  Germany,  and  Scotland,  laid  hold  also  of  the 
Protestants  of  France,  whose  numbers  were  greatly  dimin- 
ished, and  who  had  become  languid  under  the  indifference  of 
the  age  more  than  during  the  long  period  of  persecution. 
The  new  awakened  faith  urged  to  activity.  All  manner  of 
Christian  associations  were  formed,  and  soon,  as  the  result  of 
the  special  information  concerning  missionary  societies  in 
foreign  countries  which  was  afforded  by  the  Archives  du 
Christianisem  established  in  1818,  as  also  by  a  pamphlet 
that  appeared  in  Geneva  in  1821  {Exposd  de  Vdtat  actuel  des 
missions  evangdliques  chez  les  peuples  infideles  tel  qu'on  U 
connaissait  au  commencement  de  V  amide  1820),  the  idea  of 
founding  a  distinctively  French  missionary  society  was  so 
keenly  agitated,  that  in  1824  the  Soci^te  des  Missions  Evaugel- 
iques  came  to  life  in  Paris.  The  intention  at  first  was  merely 
to  found  a  society  for  collecting  funds  which  should  support 
by  its  contributions  societies  that  sent  out  missionaries.  As 
early  as  1825,  however,  a  mission  house  of  their  own  was 
opened,  and  after  an  independent  field  of  mission  work  had 
been  occupied  among  the  Basutos  in  1829,  missionary  life  in 
France  took  a  most  gratifying  upward  leap.  It  is  true  that 
under  the  pressure  of  political  disturbance  it  has  repeatedly 
passed  through  severe  crises,  but  these  have  been  always 
happily  overcome  and  have  even  fallen  out  unto  the  further- 
ance of  the  work.  Even  when  the  free  church  of  the 
Vaudois  withdrew  its  support  from  Paris  because  of  having 
founded  a  mission  of  its  own,  the  loss  in  contributions  was 
covered  by  the  French  Protestants.  The  prosperous  Basuto 
Mission,  in  which  C.  Casalis,  Arbousset,  and  Mabille  were 
eminent,  and  the  Zambesi  Mission,  began  as  an  offshoot  from 
that  by  the  intrepid  Coillard,  did  not  remain  the  only  spheres 
of  the  society's  labours.  Besides  Senegambia,  where  up  till 
now  no  real  progress  has  been  made,  the  society  was  forced 
by  the  intolerance  of  the  French  colonial  policy,  which  suffered 
no  evangelical  missionaries  other  than  French  in  its  colonies, 
to  take  over  in  1865  the  Society  Islands  (Tahiti),  which  had 
already  been  almost  Christianised  through  the  work  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society.  In  1887  the  Missionary  Society 
of  Paris  had  to  take  the  place,  at  least  in  part,  of  the 
American  Presbyterians  in  Gaboon,  and  also  foimd  itself  con- 
strained to  begin  a  new  mission  in  French  territory  on  the 
Congo.  Now  there  is  laid  upon  her  a  new  and  great  task  in 
Madagascar,  where  it  has  recently  had  to  take  over  a  large 


140  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

part  of  the  work  hitherto  done  by  the  London  M.  S.  That  is 
almost  too  much  for  the  Protestants  of  France,  who  number 
scarcely  050,000,  and  a  large  percentage  of  whom  have  been 
till  now  rather  indifferent  to  missions.  But  with  each  task 
has  come  the  strength.  From  1889  to  1903  the  income  of  the 
society  (including  foreign  contributions,  mainly  from  Alsace)  ad- 
vanced from£16,000  to  over  £40,000  ($192,000),  and  the  number 
of  salaried  missionaries  from  40  to  120  (65  men) ;  and  there 
has  also  in  1904  been  the  liquidation  of  a  considerable  deficit. 
The  native  communicants  in  South  Africa  and  the  South  Seas 
number  about  19,500,  and  in  Madagascar  111,000  Christians 
are  under  its  care.     Organ  :  Journal  des  missions  ivang&iques. 

107.  An  independent  mission  was  founded  in  French 
Switzerland  in  1874.  For  a  long  time  Christians  there  had 
been  satisfied  with  supporting  the  societies  of  Basel  and  Paris, 
not  only  by  money  contributions,  but  also  by  furnishing  mis- 
sionaries. The  Vaudois  free  church,  which  arose  after  many 
struggles  in  the  middle  of  the  Forties,  began  that  new  mission 
by  itself  alone ;  but  in  1879  the  free  churches  of  Geneva 
and  Neuchatel  joined  with  it  to  form  the  Mission  des  eglises 
libres  cle  la  Suisse  Eomande  (Miss.  Bomande).  Their  united 
field  of  labour  was  North  Transvaal  and  the  Portuguese  settle- 
ments on  the  coast  of  Delagoa  Bay.  At  present  about  4000 
baptized  Christians  have  been  gathered  into  ten  congregations. 
The  society  maintains  21  (+  15)  missionaries.  Its  income  is 
over  £8500  ($40,800),  a  notable  contribution  from  the  members 
of  these  free  churches,  which  have  only  about  8000  adult 
members.     Organ  :  Bulletin  missionaire  des  fylises,  etc. 

Section  6.  Scandinavia 

108.  Denmark. — In  spite  of  the  missions  to  India  having 
been  sent  out  from  Denmark,  there  was  almost  no  missionary 
life  in  the  country.  The  main  reason  of  this  was  that  these 
missions  were  in  the  hands  of  a  Eoyal  Corporation,  which 
included  among  its  numbers  men  who  declared  that  a  heathen 
who  changed  his  religion  was  to  be  despised.  The  mission  to 
Greenland  had  made  but  poor  progress ;  for  which  its  con- 
nection with  the  State  and  Trading  Society  were  alike  chiefly 
to  blame.  Even  the  founding  of  a  free  society,  der  Danske 
Miss.  Selskap,  by  the  earnest  Pastor  Bonne  in  1821,  did  not 
at  once  develop  a  fresh  missionary  activity.  That  society 
interested  itself  in  the  old  mission  in  Greenland,  and  after 
much  conflict  with  the  Government  officials  it  gradually 
secured  the  sending  out  of  more  capable  clergymen,  and  the 
taking   of   active   steps   for   the   training   of  suitable   native 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I4I 

helpers.  In  1827  the  society  formed  an  alliance  with  Basel, 
which  led  to  the  sending  of  some  Danish  missionaries  to  the 
field  on  the  Gold  Coast  already  occupied  by  the  Basel  society, 
and  at  that  time  still  under  the  Danish  Crown,  but  not  to  the 
founding  of  an  independent  mission  of  the  D.  M.  S.  Various 
other  efforts  came  to  nought ;  then  followed  the  Grundvig 
agitation,  whose  influence  was  adverse  to  missions ;  and  so  it 
was  not  until  1862  that  the  society  built  a  mission-school  of 
its  own,  and  in  connection  with  the  missionary  Ochs  who  had 
severed  himself  from  the  Leipsic  Society  on  the  caste-question, 
began  a  mission  of  its  own  in  Tamil-land,  which  is,  however, 
until  now  not  of  great  importance  (11  missionaries  and  about 
800  baptized  Christians).  Since  1896  the  society  has  also 
carried  on  a  mission  in  Northern  China  (Port  Arthur),  with  9 
workers,1  which  has  been  greatly  hindered,  however,  by  the 
Eussians.  Income,  £8500  ($40,800).  The  society  had  notable 
presidents  in  Kalkar  and  Vahl.  Organ  :  Dansk  Mission  Blad. 
A  Danish  Evangelical  Association  for  China  is  affiliated  with  the 
society,  and  a  special  committee  supports  the  Indian  Home 
Mission  to  the  Santhals  founded  by  Borresen  the  Danish 
missionary,  and  Skrefsrud  the  Norwegian,  which  has  from  all 
Scandinavia  10  missionaries  in  its  service,  and  gathers  about 
£4000  ($19,200).  The  so-called  Loventhals  Mission,  which 
works  among  the  Tamuls,  is  insignificant  (1  missionary);  a 
small  mission  among  the  Karens,  begun  in  1884,  has  since  been 
given  up.  Greenland  is  now  Christianised  and  under  the  care 
of  the  Danish  State  Church.  The  entire  missionary  contri- 
butions of  Denmark  amount  to  about  £11,500  ($55,200). 

109.  Norway. — In  Norway,  which  up  to  1814  belonged 
politically  to  Denmark,  the  first  missionary  society  sending 
out  missionaries  (Norske  Missions  Selskab)  was  founded  in 
1842  in  Stavanger,  where  it  still  has  its  headquarters.  It  is, 
like  the  Danish,  Lutheran,  but  with  a  democratic  constitution, 
which  permits  of  a  lively  interest  in  the  missionary  manage- 
ment on  the  part  of  the  many  (nearly  900)  associations  closely 
linked  with  it  as  branches.  After  many  fruitless  endeavours, 
its  first  missionary,  Schreuder,  obtained  a  firm  footing  among 
the  Zulus  in  Natal,  and  in  1865  the  society  began  its  prosperous 
work  in  Madagascar,  and  in  1902  a  small  mission  in  China. 
Schreuder  quited  its  service  in  1873,  choosing  to  be  an  agent 
of  the  Norwegian  Church  rather  than  of  a  democratically 
governed  society.  The  separation,  however,  although  main- 
tained after  the  death  of  Schreuder  in  1882,  has  met  with 
little  support  (5  missionaries,  and  income  about  £750  ($3600), 

1  [Even  before  the  recent  war  broke  out,  the  mission  was  compelled  to  remove 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  Port  Arthur  to  the  other  side  of  the  C4ulf  of  Pechili. 
—Ed.] 


142  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

nor  up  till  to-day  has  any  real  Church  mission  been  the  result. 
As  the  home  organisation  of  the  Norwegian  Missionary  Society 
is  popular,  so  also  is  its  mission  work  solid.  Progress  among 
the  Zulus  has  been  slow  owing  to  many  disturbances  from  war  ; 
it  was  rapid  in  Madagascar  until  the  French  occupation,  and 
has  since  proceeded  without  any  material  disturbance.  Its 
baptized  Christians  in  Madagascar  number  about  60,000,  and 
among  the  Zulus,  2000  ;  its  missionaries  on  all  its  fields  about 
60,  and  its  income  is  about  £35,000  ($168,000).  Organ: 
Norsk  Missionstidende. 

This  leading  society  is  still  the  centre  of  the  missionary 
activity  of  Norway,  although  it  has  not  remained  the  only 
missionary  institution  in  the  country.  A  free  church  tendency, 
moving  on  the  lines  of  the  Alliance  Mission,  has  begun  to  influ- 
ence missionary  life  in  Norway,  which  had  been  the  case  long 
before  this,  and  on  a  more  extensive  scale,  in  Sweden.  This 
tendency  has  called  various  societies  into  life  since  1889, — two 
China  missions  and  a  free  Norwegian  mission  for  East  Africa, 
— which  work  in  part  independently  and  in  part  in  connection 
with  the  China  Inland  and  the  Alliance  missions,  but  even 
when  independently  quite  in  the  spirit  of  these  societies. 
Their  work  is  steadily  growing.  To  the  new  missions  of  this 
modern  tendency  there  was  added  in  1891  a  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Missionary  Society,  which  has  4  ( +  3)  missionaries 
and  an  income  of  £4250  ($20,400).  It  also  aids  the  Indian  Home 
Mission  to  the  Santhals.  The  entire  contributions  of  Norway 
for  missions  to  the  heathen  may  amount  to  about  £45,000 
($216,800). 

110.  Sweden. — The  missionary  organisation  of  Sweden, 
which  is  completely  mixed  up  with  its  confused  ecclesiastical 
divisions,  is  altogether  independent  of  that  of  Norway.  The  first 
Swedish  missionary  society  (Svenska  Missions  Salskapet),  which, 
however,  confined  itself  to  some  educational  work  among  the 
Lapps,  and  to  supporting  other  foreign  missionary  societies, 
was  founded  in  Stockholm  in  1835.  In  1855  it  united  with 
the  missionary  society  at  Lund,  founded  in  1845,  which  was 
practically  auxiliary  to  the  Leipsic  Tamil  Mission,  into  the 
service  of  which  some  Swedes  had  entered.  But  in  Lutheran 
circles  of  a  more  Pietistic  tendency  there  arose  some  disagree- 
ment with  the  churchly  tendency  of  the  Swedish  Missionary 
Society,  and  also  a  desire  for  an  independent  Swedish  mission. 
In  consequence  of  this,  the  Evangelical  Society  of  the  Father- 
land (Evangeliska  Fosterlands  Stiftelsen),  which  had  been 
established  for  home  mission  work  in  1856,  was  in  1861  broad- 
ened into  a  society  for  foreign  missions  also,  opened  a  mission 
seminary  of  its  own,  began  a  mission  of  its  own  in  East  Africa 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    I43 

(on  the  border  of  Abyssinia),  and  a  later  in  India  (among  the 
Gonds),  the  former  amid  many  vicissitudes  and  at  the  cost  of 
great  sacrifices.  It  has  40  (+  16)  missionaries,  an  income  of 
about  £17,500  ($84,000),  and  1500  native  Christians.  Organ  : 
Missio  nstidning. 

Meanwhile  a  current  of  missionary  sentiment  adverse  to 
missionary  societies,  which  had  for  long  existed  in  the  State 
church  of  Sweden,  gained  steadily  in  strength,  and,  in  opposition 
to  the  divisive  free  church  tendency,  which  was  often  keenly 
hostile  to  the  State  church,  sought  an  incorporation  of  mis- 
sionary activity  into  the  official  church  organisation.  After 
long  negotiations,  the  statute  framed  in  behoof  of  the  church 
received  royal  sanction  in  1874,  and  a  "  Missionary  Directorate 
of  the  Swedish  Church"  was  instituted.  To  this  the  older 
Swedish  Missionary  Society  joined  itself  in  1876,  but  not  the 
Society  of  the  Fatherland,  so  that  unity  in  the  missionary 
organisation  of  Sweden  was  not  attained.  This  mission  of  the 
Swedish  Church,  the  income  of  which  has  recently  grown  to 
about  £10,000  ($48,000),  maintains  14  (+  10)  missionaries, 
partly  in  loose  connection  with  the  Leipsic  Missionary  Society 
(its  Swedish  diocese),  partly  in  Zulu  and  Matabele  lands. 
Organ :  Missionstidning  under  inseende  of  Svenska  Kyr Jeans 
Missionsstyrelse. 

Since  the  end  of  the  Seventies,  however,  the  free  church 
movement  has  taken  hold  of  the  missionary  life  of  Sweden 
much  more  powerfully  than  has  the  movement  connecting  it 
with  the  church.  There  was  first  a  genuine  Swedish  move- 
ment in  connection  with  the  Waldenstrom  movement,  and  then 
one  introduced  from  England  and  America,  which  adopted  the 
missionary  principles  of  the  China  Inland  and  Alliance  Missions. 
Both  are  akin  in  spirit.  The  former  had  for  long  been  a  home 
mission  power  in  the  country,  not  indeed  in  the  German  sense 
of  the  term,  but  as  evangelistic  activity  awakening  religious 
life.  The  many  friends  of  this  movement,  who  while  remaining 
in  the  church  maintained  a  thoroughly  independent  position, 
urged  the  Fatherland  Society  to  send  out  as  missionaries  men 
who  did  not  hold  themselves  bound  by  the  Lutheran  confession, 
and  when  their  request  was  declined  founded  in  1878  the 
Swedish  Mission  Union  (Svenska  Missionsforbundet),  which 
within  a  short  time  won  a  large  following  (at  present  over  900 
associations),  and  supports  two  missionary  schools.  Its  mission 
fields  are  on  the  Congo,  in  Algeria,  Ural,  Asia  Minor,  or  rather 
Persia,  China,  and  Chinese  Turkistan  ;  Alaska  has  been  handed 
over  to  the  Swedish  Mission  Union  in  America.  The  number 
of  its  missionaries  is  40  (-}-  25);  its  annual  income  is  about 
£15,000  ($72,000).     Organ  :  Missionsforlundct. 


144  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  missionary  unions  formed  under  English  influence  in 
the  Eighties  also  quickly  gained  large  numbers  of  adherents : 
(1)  The  Swedish  Mission  in  China  (Svenska  Missionen  i  Kina), 
founded  in  1887  by  E.  Folke,  and  labouring  with  30  mission- 
aries (inclusive  of  ladies)  in  connection  with  the  China  Inland 
Mission;  its  income  being  about  £3250  ($15,600).  Organ: 
Sannigsvittnet.  (2)  The  "  Holiness  Union,"  founded  in  1885 
by  a  millowner  in  Nerike  (Helgelseforbundet  i  Nerike),  which 
holds  a  yearly  anniversary  in  Torp,  attended  by  thousands.  It 
sends  evangelists  to  China  and  Zululand  (10  at  present,  ex- 
cluding ladies),  and  has  an  income  of  nearly  £1500  ($7200). 
Organ:  Trons  Segrar  (Triumjjh  of  Faith).  (3)  The  Scandi- 
navian Alliance  Mission,  called  into  life  by  Franson,  has  its 
seat  in  Chicago,  and  the  most  of  its  workers  are  American 
Swedes.  Characteristic  is  the  declaration  of  one  of  their  China 
missionaries  :  "  Literary  work — it  is  only  tract  literature  which 
is  in  view — requires  much  time  and  hard  labour,  and  mean- 
while one  is  uncertain  how  far  he  should  devote  his  time  to 
this  work,  or  whether  the  time  is  so  short  that  it  is  best  to 
employ  the  last  days  of  this  soon  expiring  age  in  purely 
evangelistic  work."  The  Society  for  Home  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sions, founded  in  Jonkoping  in  1863,  on  lines  similar  to  the 
Swedish  Mission  Union,  and  the  Ostergothland  Society  in 
Linkoping,  are  not  societies  which  send  out  missionaries  of  their 
own.  Finally,  there  has  still  to  be  mentioned  a  little  Swedish 
Baptist  Mission,  which  is  at  work  on  the  Congo  and  in  China, 
with  4  missionaries  and  an  income  of  about  £1000  ($4800), 
The  total  contribution  of  Sweden  for  missions  to  the  heal  lien 
amounts  to  almost  £50,000  ($240,000). 

In  China,  in  the  year  1900,  the  Swedish  Missions  have 
suffered  relatively  the  greatest  losses,  and  the  agents  of  the 
Holiness  Union  were  all  murdered. 

111.  Finland. — Of  Scandinavian  countries  Finland  was 
the  last  to  enter  the  missionary  movement.  For  a  long  time, 
indeed,  contributions  had  been  gathered  in  little  circles  for  the 
Swedish  Missionary  Society.  But  in  1859,  on  the  occasion  of 
the  700th  anniversary  of  the  conversion  of  Finland  to  Christi- 
anity, the  Finnish  Lutheran  Missionary  Society  was  founded, 
with  its  headquarters  at  Helsingfors.  It  was  not  until  1870, 
however,  that  the  society  began  an  independent  mission,  on  the 
advice  of  the  Ehenish  missionary  Hugo  Hahn,  in  Ovamboland, 
where  its  often  changing  missionaries  only  slowly  effected  a 
footing  (at  present  1300  baptized  persons).  In  1901  it  adopted 
China  (Hunan  province)  as  a  second  mission  field.  To-day  the 
society  has  13  (+  4)  missionaries  in  its  service,  and  an  income 
of  CS0OO  ($38,400).     Organ:  Missions  Tidning for  Finland. 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    145 

A  small  Finnish  Free  Church  Mission  has  existed  since 
1891,  in  connection,  as  it  seems,  with  the  China  Inland  Mission, 
having  2  (+  3)  missionaries;  in  1898  there  was  founded  a 
Finnish  Alliance  Mission  for  India,  with  some  female  mission- 
aries ;  also  in  1899  a  Lutheran  Evangelisation  Society,  with  2 
workers  in  Japan. 

Section  7.  Protestant  Colonies,  etc. 

112.  These  European  and  American  missionary  organisa- 
tions do  not,  however,  exhaust  the  list  of  Protestant  missionary 
agencies ;  there  are  also  a  number  of  such  organisations  in  the 
colonies  beyond  the  seas. 

The  most  important  of  these  owe  their  existence  to  the 
fact  that  great  English  missionary  societies,  such  as  those  of 
the  Independents,  the  Baptists,  and  the  Wesleyans,  have  freed 
their  work  in  those  countries  from  home  control ;  others  are 
independent  undertakings  on  the  part  of  European  settlers, 
some  also  the  work  of  native  churches.  Leaving  out  of 
account  British  North  America,  which  has  already  been  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  sister  missionary  societies  of 
the  United  States,  and  New  Zealand,  which  draws  considerable 
support  for  its  Melanesian  Mission  from  England,  and  for  that 
reason  has  already  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
ecclesiastical  organisations  of  that  country,  there  are  yet  to  be 
treated  the  colonial  missionary  societies  of  Australia,  South 
Africa,  the  West  and  the  East  Indies. 

In  Australia  the  first  place  is  taken  by  the  Methodist 
Missionary  Society  of  Australia,  which  branched  off  from  the 
parent  society  in  England  in  1855,  and  now  includes  several 
sections  of  Methodism  in  Australia.  It  has  altogether 
26  (+8)  missionaries,  and  a  number  of  native  pastors 
and  evangelists  in  Samoa,  Fiji,  the  Bismarck  Archipelago, 
British  New  Guinea,  the  Solomon  Islands,  and  Australia 
(40,000  Christians,  about  135,000  adherents).  Income, 
£19,000  ($91,200).  Organ:  Methodist  Church  of  Australia 
Missionary  Review.  —  And  second  stands  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Victoria,  with  15  (+3)  missionaries  (among  them 
the  well-known  John  Paton x)  on  the  mainland  of  Australia, 
in  the  New  Hebrides,  and  in  Corea  (about  700  Christians, 
4000  adherents).  Income,  £6000  ($28,800).  Organ:  The 
Messenger.  Four  smaller  Presbyterian  missioDS  in  the  other 
Australian  colonies  support  between  them  only  six  or  eight 
missionaries  in  the  New  Hebrides  and  among  the  Australian 
aborigines,  with  a  total  income  of  some  £2500  ($12,000).    The 

1  John   G.   Paton,   Missionary  to  the  New  Hebrides  :  An  Autobiography, 
London,  1891. 
10 


146  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Immanuel  Synod  has  three  missionaries 
at  work  solely  among  the  Papuan  tribes  of  Australia,  at  a  cost 
of  from  £750  to  £1000. — Added  to  these  there  are  seven 
small  Baptist  missions  (one  of  them  at  work  in  New  Zealand), 
which  support  altogether  10  (+  17)  missionaries,  most  of  them 
in  India,  with  an  income  of  about  £4750  ($22,800). 

In  South  Africa  the  original  settlers  of  Dutch  and  partly 
French  descent,  the  Boers,  did,  it  is  true,  give  the  natives  some 
private  instruction  in  Christianity,  and  also  made  isolated 
attempts  at  missionary  work  proper,  as  will  be  described 
later,  but  it  was  a  long  time  before  they  set  their  hand  to 
organised  missionary  enterprise.  This  only  began  in  1857, 
and  is  carried  on  by  the  "  Nedercluitsche  Gereformeerde  Kerk 
in  Zuid-Africa,"  as  an  enterprise  of  the  Church,  and  in  largest 
measure  by  the  Church  of  Cape  Colony,  which,  in  the  person 
of  some  60  ordained  missionaries,  engages  in  missionary  work 
proper  in  various  parts  of  South  Africa,  and  also  takes  the 
responsibility  of  the  natives  already  Christianised.  The  total 
number  of  souls  under  the  care  of  this  mission  is  estimated 
at  77,000.  But  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Churches  of  Natal,  Orange 
Biver  Colony,  and  especially  the  Transvaal  are  associated,  to  a 
more  or  less  wide  territorial  extent,  with  this  work,  so  that, 
including  the  mission  founded  in  South  Nyassa  Land  in  1904, 
by  the  "Predicanten  Zending  Vereenigung,"  in  conjunction 
with  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland  mission  in  that 
region,  these  Churches  support  a  missionary  staff  of  more  than 
80  workers,  and  have  an  income  of  fully  £15,000  ($72,000). 

Side  by  side  with  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church — in  even 
wider  spheres  but  not  in  such  an  independent  manner — the 
Anglican  Church  is  carrying  on  missionary  work  in  her  nine 
South  African  dioceses.  Owing  to  the  more  or  less  close  con- 
nection in  which  she  stands  in  this  and  that  diocese  to  the 
S.  P.  G.,  and  her  very  faulty  statistical  reports,  it  is  not  possible, 
however,  to  give  reliable  information  about  her  independent 
missionary  work. 

Such  is  also  the  case  of  the  "  Congregational  Union  of 
South  Africa,"  which  has  been  made  independent  of  the 
L.  M.  S.,  but  forms  only  a  very  loose  union  of  churches  (with 
perhaps  60,000  adherents).  There  does  exist  within  it  a 
Church  Aid  and  Missionary  Society,  but  any  information  as  to 
its  missionary  work  is  unobtainable. 

The  most  important  of  the  South  African  missionary 
agencies  is  the  South  African  Missionary  Society  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Methodist  Church  of  South  Africa,  constituted  in  1882, 
and  credited  with  over  50,000  communicants  (about  200,000 
adherents?),  who  are  for  by  far  the  most  part  under  the  care 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES    I47 

of  native  workers,  ordained  (80)  and  unordained.  Upon  its 
missionary  work,  also  carried  on  principally  by  natives,  it  spends 
about  £10,000  ($48,000).     Organ :  The  Methodist  Churchman. 

Besides  these,  there  also  exist  a  "  South  African  Baptist 
Missionary  Society,"  and  a  missionary  committee  of  the  "  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  South  Africa."  These,  however,  appear  to 
be  only  branch  societies  of  the  parent  British  organisation.1 

In  the  West  Indies  the  Anglican  Church,  as  also  the 
Jamaica  Baptist  Union,  with  its  35,000  members,  which  has 
been  independent  of  the  English  parent  society  since  1849, 
have  united  pastoral  care  of  the  coloured  races  already 
Christianised  with  direct  missionary  work ;  this  latter,  how- 
ever, is  difficult  to  tabulate.  The  fact  that  the  West  Indian 
province  of  the  Wesleyan  Church,  which  was  made  inde- 
pendent in  1884,  has  been  reincorporated  in  the  parent 
society,  has  already  been  noted. 

In  British  India,  side  by  side  with  a  great  number  of 
Bible,  Tract,  Colporteur,  Zenana,  and  other  societies,  there  also 
exist  some  independent  missionary  societies,  which  do,  how- 
ever, draw  some  support  from  Europe  and  America.  Those 
most  worthy  of  mention,  after  the  Bengal  Evangelistic  Mis- 
sion, with  its  18  native  evangelists  and  income  of  £400 
($1920),  and  the  Kurku  and  Central  Indian  Hill  Mission,  with 
its  8  European  and  6  native  workers,  and  income  of  £2500 
($12,000),  are :  the  Indian  Home  Mission  to  the  Santhals, 
founded  in  1867,  which  has  now  5  missionaries  (Borresen, 
Skrefsrud  among  them),  and  an  income  of  about  £8500 
($40,800);  the  Bethel  Santhal  Mission,  founded  in  1875,  with 
3  missionaries  and  an  income  of  £1000  ($4800);  and  the 
Poona  and  Indian  Village  Mission,  founded  in  1893,  with 
about  60  mostly  native  lay  evangelists  and  lady  missionaries, 
and  an  annual  income  of  £5000  ($24,000). 

To  be  added  to  these  there  are  still  some  small,  only 
relatively  speaking  independent  missionary  agencies  belonging 
to  Native  Churches :  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association, 
which  works  with  a  staff  of  20  missionaries  and  at  an  expendi- 
ture of  £5000  ($24,000)  a  year,  among  the  non-Christian 
immigrants  to  Hawaii  and  the  natives  of  Micronesia,  in  the 
latter  region  under  the  supervision  of  the  American  Board ; 
then,  in  connection  with  the  S.  P.  G-.,  the  West  Indian  Church 
Association  for  the  Furtherance   of  the  Gospel  in   Western 

1  [The  Presbyterian  Church  of  South  Africa  is  an  independent  Church,  but 
its  constitution  is  somewhat  complex,  owing  to  the  fact  that  some  of  its 
ministers  and  congregations  are  connected  with  the  missions  of  the  United  Free 
Church  of  Scotland.  It  aims,  however,  at  developing  colonial  resources  among 
Presbyterians  for  mission  work. — Ed.] 


I48  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Africa  (Rio  Pongas),  with  its  4  missionaries  and  scanty  re- 
sources ;  the  Native  Baptist  Union  of  Lagos  and  the  Niger 
Delta  Pastorate,  both  of  which  also  sutler  from  small  staffs 
and  scanty  support.  The  so-called  Ethiopian  Church  of  South 
Africa,  of  which  more  anon,  has  not  as  yet  attained  to  inde- 
pendent missionary  enterprise ;  she  confines  herself  to  uniting 
congregations,  not  of  heathen,  but  of  native  Christians,  which 
have  separated  from  European  missionary  organisations. 

Finally,  besides  the  already  mentioned  missionary  corpora- 
tions, more  or  less  well  organised,  and  some  associations  almost 
without  organisation,  there  are  a  considerable  number  of  male 
and  female  missionaries,  who  work  without  any  connection 
with  a  controlling  missionary  board  at  home,  and  carry  on  a 
perfectly  independent  missionary  enterprise  in  a  self-chosen 
sphere.  Of  the  associations  without  organisation,  there  are 
two  chief  ones  to  be  noted :  1.  The  English  Brethren,  com- 
monly known  as  the  Plymouth  Brethren,  who  began  their 
missionary  activity  as  early  as  1836,  and  have  continued  ever 
since,  a  company  of  lay  missionaries  only  (200  +  70),  among 
whom  Arnot,  the  founder  of  the  Garenganze  Mission,  is  the  best 
known ;  they  have  extensive  spheres  of  labour  in  India,  China, 
Japan,  the  Malay  Archipelago,  North,  Central,  and  South 
Africa,  the  West  Indies,  and  South  America.  The  result  of 
their  labours  is  in  no  way  proportionate  to  the  number  of 
these  workers,  and  it  is  moreover  hard  to  understand  how 
such  a  large  staff  can  be  supported  with  an  income  of  £14,000 
($67,200).  Organ :  Echoes  of  Service.  And  2.  The  Salvation 
Army,  which  in  spite  of  its  military  organisation  in  mission 
lands — it  is  at  work  with  hundreds  of  soldiers,  including  women, 
especially  in  India,  Eastern  Asia,  South  Africa,  and  South 
America — is  very  much  lacking  in  method,  evangelising  without 
regard  for  other  missionary  societies,  and  after  the  market- 
crier  fashion,  causing  much  excitement,  but  building  up  no 
organised  body,  although  it  boasts  of  accomplishing,  especi- 
ally in  India,  more  than  all  other  missionaries  put  together. 
Reliable  statistics  as  to  the  number  of  their  converts  or  the 
amount  of  their  missionary  expenditure  are  alike  unobtainable. 

The  individual  or  free  missionaries,  who  represent  the 
uttermost  extreme  of  Protestant  independence,  are  the  free- 
lances in  the  missionary  service,  thorough  believers,  and  men 
and  women  full  of  self-sacrifice,  but  often  romantic  enthusiasts, 
with  a  very  indistinct  idea  of  the  work  of  a  missionary,  and  an 
inadequate,  if  indeed  any,  preparation  for  their  own  self-chosen 
vocation.  Of  lasting  fruit  they  bring  forth  little.  Their  number 
is  not  inconsiderable,  but  it  is  not  to  be  accurately  ascertained. 
They  think  themselves  specially  called  to  pioneer  missionary 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     1 49 

services,  as,  for  example,  the  well-known  Annie  Taylor  and 
Eijinhart  and  his  wife,  who  have  set  before  them  as  their  task 
the  opening  up  of  Tibet. 

Section  8.  Keview  of  the  Situation 

113.  An  absolutely  reliable  summary  of  missionary  stat- 
istics is  unhappily  not  attainable.  The  reason  for  this  is 
not  simply  that  the  multitude  of  missionary  organisations, 
particularly  of  small  and  very  small  ones,  makes  it  almost 
impossible  to  procure  the  complete  material,  nor  that  the 
statistical  reports  of  many  of  these  organisations  are  very 
imperfect,  but  is  much  more  this,  that  the  reckonings  are  not 
fashioned  on  identical  principles  of  missionary  statistics.  The 
ground  of  this  misfortune  lies,  besides  the  different  conceptions 
of  the  design  of  missions,  essentially  in  the  different  ecclesi- 
astical relations  and  views  of  English  (particularly  American) 
and  continental  Protestantism  respectively.  But  even  if  they 
are  only  approximately  accurate  statistics  which  are  rendered 
possible  by  the  materials  collected  with  painful  diligence,  still 
they  furnish  an  instructive  survey,  exhibiting  in  dry  figures 
the  respectable  compass  which  evangelical  missions  have 
gradually  attained  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
In  round  numbers,  there  were  at  the  beginning  of  the 
twentieth  century — 

175   independent    missionary    organisations    sending   out 
missionaries.     Of  these,  indeed,  there  are  scarcely 
60  that  send  out  more  than  20  missionaries.     In 
this  total  the  auxiliary  societies  are  not  included. 
6,850  missionaries,  including  "  free  "  missionaries.     In  addi- 
tion to  these, 
470  qualified  medical  missionaries. 
3,250  unmarried  female  missionaries.     In  addition 
230  certificated  medical  women  missionaries. 
10,800  Total  missionary  staff. 

£3,400,000  ($16,320,000)  Total  missionary  income,  including 
contributions  from  the  auxiliary  societies. 

114.  The  chief  advance  in  evangelical  missions  has  taken 
place  since  the  middle  of  the  Seventies  of  last  century.  Since 
that  time  the  number  of  missionaries  and  the  missionary 
income  have  almost  tripled.  Many  things  have  co-operated 
to  bring  about  this  advance :  the  death  of  the  great  Living- 
stone ;  the  discovery  of  the  course  of  the  Congo  by  Stanley ; 
the  dawn  of  the  new  colonial  era ;  the  progressive  success 
of    missions ;    the   growing  employment    of    women  and   of 


150  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

medical  activity  in  the  missionary  enterprise  ;  the  production 
and  distribution  of  good  missionary  literature ;  the  missionary 
quickening  produced  by  Hudson  Taylor,  the  founder  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission ;  by  the  evangelistic  movement  associated 
with  Moody,  by  the  Keswick  meetings,  and  by  the  Student 
Missionary  Movement;  and  finally,  the  permeating  of  all 
sections  of  the  Church  ever  more  potently  with  an  under- 
standing of  the  missionary  task  imposed  upon  the  Church. 
The  change  in  the  attitude  of  church  organisations  to  missions 
began  indeed  about  the  middle  of  the  previous  century,  but  only 
after  that  time  did  missions,  which  had  still  to  contend  against 
the  reproach  of  being  a  mere  fancy  of  Pietists,  begin  to  find 
their  way  in  steadily  increasing  measures  out  of  conventicles 
into  the  halls  of  the  churches.  The  administrative  bodies  in 
the  churches  abandoned  more  and  more  their  attitude  of  shy 
abstention,  and  among  the  pastors  it  gradually  came  to  be  a 
majority  who  took  in  hand  the  fostering  of  missions.  Almost 
universally  they  took  their  place  at  the  head  of  the  missionary 
associations ;  and  these,  too,  in  growing  numbers  as  time  went 
on  became  incorporated  with  the  church  organisation.  In 
short,  the  missionary  duty  of  the  Church  is  universally  recog- 
nised by  all  its  official  representatives,  dignitaries,  synods, 
clergy ;  and  not  only  in  theory, — as  a  matter  of  fact,  church 
organisations  have  become  the  chief  instruments  in  fostering 
missionary  life. 

115.  The  change  which  has  thus  taken  place  has  repeatedly 
suggested  the  idea  of  giving  over  the  whole  management  of 
missionary  enterprise  to  be  matter  of  State  church  administra- 
tion, but,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  experiment  of  this 
kind  in  Sweden,  the  conviction  has  gradually  become  clearer, 
that  the  carrying  on  of  missions  by  free  societies  is  of  Divine 
leading,  and  is  to  be  retained  as  a  blessing  both  to  missions 
and  to  the  church ;  only,  the  sound  reciprocal  attitude  between 
the  free  missionary  societies  and  the  official  church  must  be 
wrought  out  into  preciser  form.1  Even  more  and  more  distinct 
has  been  the  recognition  of  the  reflex  influences  upon  the 
church  at  home,  not  only  of  practical  obedience  to  the 
missionary  command  in  general,  but  in  particular  of  the 
method  of  carrying  on  missions  by  free  societies,  so  that 
to  the  latter  is  due  in  great  measure  the  transformation 
of  the  passive  congregation  into  an  active  one.     Most  tardy 

1  [This  necessity  presses,  of  course,  where  Hie  official  church  and  the  mis- 
sionary societies  are  .separate  organisations,  particularly  when  a  State conni  cl  ion 

on  the  part  of  the  church  is  an  element  in  the  case.  But  for  those  who  hold 
that  the  church  itself  ought  as  such  to  be  the  missionary  society,  and  who  find 
their  idea  realised,  as  in  Scotland  and  in  many  churches  in  America,  the 
problem  no  longer  exists.— Ed.] 


FOUNDATION  AND  GROWTH  OF  MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES     I  5  I 

of  all  has  been  the  entrance  of  scientific  theology  into  the 
missionary  movement.  It  has,  indeed,  never  been  signalised 
by  animosity  towards  missions,  but  it  has  eminently  ignored 
them  ;  and  so  it  has  happened  that  through  a  very  long  period 
it  has  neither  itself  been  enriched  by  them,  nor  has  exercised 
on  them  an  illumining  influence.  The  impulses  towards  such 
reciprocal  action  have  not  issued  from  the  universities.  They 
have  given  us  neither  a  scientific  history  of  the  missions  of  the 
present,  nor — saving  some  essays  of  practically  little  use — a 
theory  of  missions.  We  have  no  scientific  history  of  missions 
to  this  day.  Towards  a  theory  of  missions  the  author  of  this 
sketch  has  been  the  first  to  offer  an  essay  in  his  Evangel- 
ische  Missionslehre.  For  the  rest,  missionary  literature,  both 
historical  and  educative,  has  reached  a  significant  develop- 
ment among  all  the  nations  and  denominations  of  Protestantism, 
especially  in  England  and  Germany.1  Moreover,  the  attitude 
of  theology  to  missions  is  in  process  of  change ;  scientific 
missionary  workers  are  multiplying,  and  the  universities  are 
beginning  to  accord  a  place  to  the  knowledge  of  missions.2 
And — what  is  specially  gratifying — the  number  of  men  trained 
in  theology  who  enter  upon  active  missionary  service  is  grow- 
ing in  Germany,  after  it  has  for  long  been  increasing  in  England, 
and  in  America  has  always  formed  the  majority. 

Missionary  seminaries,  indeed,  will  probably  long  continue, 
perhaps  must  always  continue.  Apart  from  the  advocates  of 
the  modern  theories  of  evangelisation,  all  the  older  missionary 
societies  have  learned  by  experience  that  a  genuine  heart  con- 
version is  not  the  only  pre-requisite  for  practical  missionary 
service,  but  that  a  certain  measure  of  general  education  and 
theological  training,  besides  natural  endowment,  is  indispens- 
able, and  accordingly  they  have  applied  ever  increasing  dili- 
gence to  the  thorough  equipment  of  their  missionaries. 

116.  It  may  be  regretted  that  there  is  not  greater  unity  in 
the  organisation  of  evangelical  missionary  work,  such  as  is  in 
the  Eomish.  The  great  variety  of  form  characterising  the 
Protestant  church  and  the  tendency  to  freedom  characterising 
Protestantism  assert  themselves  even  in  its  missions.  The 
dark  sides  are  undeniable  :  friction  between  the  missionaries  of 
various  denominations,  stumbling-blocks  to  the  heathen  and 
difficulties  in  the  subsequent  formation  of  national  native 
Christian  churches.     Albeit  in  the  diversity  there  is  also  con- 

1  Wegweiser  dvrch  das  volkstumliche  wie  durch  die  wissenschaftliche  und 
pastorale  deutsche  Missionslitieratur,  Berlin,  1896  u.  1898.  Mott,  The  Evangel- 
ization of  the  World  in  this  Generation,  207,  Bibliography ;  Ecumenical  Mis- 
sionary Conference,  New  York,  1900,  11.  435,  Bibliography. 

2  Warneck,  Das  Biirgerrecht  der  Mission  im  Organismus  der  theol.  Wisicn- 
schaft,  Berlin,  1897. 


152  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

siderable  gain.  For  not  only  has  the  profusion  of  missionary 
societies  at  home  multiplied  interest  in  missions,  but  also  in 
this  way  a  great  variety  of  individual,  national,  and  denomi- 
national gifts  and  powers  has  come  to  be  employed  in  the 
mission  field.  And,  notwithstanding  much  unseemly  rivalry, 
the  common  missionary  work  has  fostered  the  "  ecumenical " 
conception  within  Protestantism,  as,  e.g.,  the  many  general 
missionary  conferences  attest.  The  founding  of  new  missionary 
societies  to-day  is  certainly  not  desirable,  were  it  only  for  this 
reason,  that  they  lack  the  experience  which  the  old  societies 
possess.  We  have  enough  of  societies.  Tactical  wisdom  now 
demands  that  our  growing  missionary  power  be  concentrated 
about  these  agencies,  and  especially  about  the  older  and  larger 
of  them.  Instead  of  the  founding  of  new  missionary  societies, 
the  endeavour  should  much  rather  be  towards  the  union  of 
missionary  societies.  It  is  one  of  the  disastrous  phrases  to 
which  currency  has  been  given  by  Dr.  Pierson,  the  editor  of 
the  Missionary  Bevieiv  of  the  World,  a  man  fertile  in  invent- 
ing rhetorical  watchwords,  "  Not  concentration  but  diffusion." 
We  have  diffusion  more  than  enough.  If  it  is  carried  still 
further  upon  principle,  it  must  ultimately  lead  to  the  breaking 
up  of  evangelical  missions  into  atoms.  When  the  water 
scatters  in  mist,  it  cannot  drive  the  mill.  Even  in  missionary 
pioneer  service  we  require  disciplined  troops  ;  and  on  the  older 
fields,  on  which  already  the  great  battles  have  been  fought 
and  great  tasks  are  set  before  the  organising  energy  of  the 
Church,  a  free-lance  mission  is  an  ineffective  force.  Separation 
is  weakness,  concentration  is  strength.  Hence  the  watchword 
must  be  reversed,  and  read,  "  Not  division  but  organisation," 
and  not  merely  expansion  but  also  solid  development 

1  Besides  the  essentially  national  conferences  of  this  sort  in  Germany, 
Scandinavia,  England,  and  North  America,  three  ecumenical  conferences  have 
been  held  until  now,  in  London  in  1878  and  1888,  and  in  New  York  in  1900. — 
On  the  mission  fields  conferences  have  been  held  for  all  India — in  Allahabad 
1872,  Calcutta  1882,  Bombay  1892,  Madras  1902  ;  for  all  China  in  Shanghai 
1877  and  1890  ;  for  Japan  in  Osaka  1883,  and  Tokyo  1900.  In  South  Africa 
as  yet  only  partial  conferences  have  been  held  ;  the  same  is  the  case  in  the 
Dutch  Indies. 


APPENDIX  TO  PART  I 

EOMAN  CATHOLIC  MISSIONS 

Introductory  Note 

An  historical  and  statistical  survey  of  Roman  Catholic  missions,  their 
organisations  and  their  results,  must  of  necessity  be  prefaced  by  an  explana- 
tion of  the  term  "  missions,"  as  it  is  officially  understood  in  the  Romish 
Church,  because  that  meaning  is  essentially  different  from  the  one  given 
to  the  term  in  Protestantism.  Apart  from  other  distinctions,  the  objective 
of  missions  is  utterly  different.  For  Protestantism  this  objective  is  the 
whole  non-Christian  world  ;  for  Roman  Catholicism  the  whole  non-Roman 
Catholic  world,1  hence  not  only  the  heathen,  Mohammedans  and  Jews, 
but  also  all  Christians  not  under  the  dominion  of  the  Pope  and  who  are 
regarded  as  schismatics  and  heretics ;  indeed,  in  those  Christian  lands 
where  the  Romish  Church  is  not  the  official  Church  of  the  country,  the 
Roman  Catholic  population  is  part  of  the  missionary  organisation.  That 
is  to  say,  Rome  divides  the  countries  of  the  world  into  provinces  of  the 
Holy  Chair  and  provinces  of  the  Propaganda  (whereof  more  later  on). 
The  provinces  of  the  Holy  Chair  are  the  "  Catholicse  regiones,"  those  of  the 
Propaganda  the  "  Acatholicorum  et  infidelium  terrse."  To  speak  more 
accurately  :  mission  lands  are  "  omnes  terra?  infidelium,  ubi  impune 
grassantur  hsereses,  in  quibus  episcopi  sua  munera  pastoralia  libere  (i.e. 
by  canonical  right)  exercere  nequeunt "  [all  these  lands  of  the  unbelievers, 
where  heresies  flourish  with  impunity,  in  which  bishops  are  unable  to 
exercise  their  pastoral  functions  freely],  or  "  omnes  illae  provincise,  civi- 
tates  et  terra?,  qua?  magistratui  infideli  vel  hseretico  subiiciuntur"  [all 
these  provinces,  states,  and  lands  which  are  subject  to  an  unbelieving  or 
heretical  magistracy]  ;  and  not  only  are  the  "  infideles  vel  haeretici "  re- 
garded as  the  objective  of  missions  in  these  lands,  but  the  entire  Roman 
Catholic  population,  however  great  it  be,  is  placed  under  the  missionary 
authorities  ;  e.g.,  in  the  United  States,  England,  part  of  Germany,  Switzer- 
land, Holland  and  Scandinavia,  the  Balkan  States,  Greece,  etc. 

As  a  natural  result,  there  is  an  entirely  different  system  of  missionary 
statistics  from  that  which  we  use.2 

1  Warneck,  Evangdische  Missionslehre,  I.  Kap.  1. 

2 In  connection  with  the  Roman  Catholic  idea  of  the  "Church,"  on  which  it  is 
hased,  that  of  "missions"  has  practical  consequences  of  quite  a  different  character, 
which  involve  much  offensive  behaviour  towards  evangelical  missions.  I  here  con- 
fine myself  to  an  exposition  of  the  premises  which  gives  rise  to  these  consequences, 
and  that  in  the  words  of  a  Roman  Catholic  pamphlet  by  Tippe  (vol.  vii.  of 
the  Frankfurter  Zdtgemclssa  Broschilrcn,  Heft  7,  1886).  This  says:  "The 
Catholic  Church,  sensible  of  the  fact  of  her  origin  at  the  first  Feast  of  Pentecost 
after  Christ's  Ascension,  must  arrogate  to  herself  alone  this  right  and  duty  (of 

163 


154  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

We  reckon  as  missionaries  only  such  as  are  sent  forth  to  work  among 
non- Christians,  and  include  among  the  numerical  results  of  missions 
only  such  Christians  as  have  been  won  from  among  non-Christians  ; l  in 
Roman  Catholic  missionary  statistics  are  included  all  priests  doing  pas- 
toral duty  in  those  countries  called  "  terroe  aeatholicso,"  and  the  entire 
Roman  Catholic  population  living  in  them  is  reckoned  as  the  fruit  of 
missionary  enterprise.  This  naturally  results  in  exorbitant  figures,  by 
which  those  who  misunderstand  the  Roman  Catholic  idea  of  missions  are 
easily  misled.  Obviously  we  must  reduce  these  numbers  to  those  of 
actual  missionaries  to  the  heathen  and  actual  converts  from  heathenism, 
a  particularly  difficult  task  when  there  is  alongside  of  the  converts  from 
heathenism  a  more  or  less  numerous  population  of  immigrant  Roman 
Catholics,  which  is  not  in  our  sense  of  the  word  the  fruit  of  missionary 
labour ;  e.g.,  in  the  colonies  of  Australia  and  Oceania,  in  British  North 
America,  in  North  and  South  Africa,  etc.  In  this  process  of  reduction, 
in  spite  of  the  most  earnest  endeavours  after  statistical  exactness,  inaccu- 
racies are  of  course  almost  unavoidable. 

Hitherto  I  have  been  principally  guided  in  this  statistical  work  by 
the  Missiones  Catholicce,  published  since  1886  by  the  Propaganda ; 
but  when  in  a  controversy  with  Pater  Huonder  I  cited  this  periodical  as 
an  authority,  he  replied  :  "  It  is  just  their  statistics  which  are  their 
weak  point ;  these  are  often  out  of  date,  incorrectly  printed,  not 
always  comprehensible,  and  at  any  rate  are  to  be  used  with  circum- 
spection and  in  consultation  with  other  sources."  Baumgarten  also, 
in  his  great  work,  The  Influence  of  the  Catholic  Church  upon  the 
World,  with  special  reference  to  Missions  to  the  Heathen  (Munich,  1902), 
censures  repeatedly  and  in  strong  terms  the  unreliability  of  the  statistical 
reports,  especially  indeed  of  "  the  official  publications  of  the  Propaganda." 
If  the  trustworthiness  of  the  reports  of  the  Propaganda  are  held  in  ques- 
tion even  by  Roman  Catholics — what  reliable  sources  are  there  from 
which  the  Protestant  historian  and  statistician  may  draw  information  1 

carrying  on  missions).  If  Christ  could  only  found  one  true  Church,  and  if  this  one 
Church  founded  by  Christ  can  only  be  that  which  has  continued  to  exist  from  the 
days  of  the  apostles  to  the  present  time  as  the  one  Catholic  Church,  it  follows  with 
inexorable  logic  that  this  Church  and  this  alone  is  entrusted  with  the  missionisiug 
of  the  whole  round  earth.  Missionary  activity  among  all  the  peoples  of  the  earth 
is  dogmatically  an  exclusive  and  inalienable  right  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Every 
other  missionary  activity  is  in  consequence  dogmatically  an  encroaching  upon  the 
right  of  the  Catholic  Church  and  an  encroaching  upon  the  kingly  office  of  the 
Redeemer.  To  this  exclusive  right,  resting  on  the  word  of  Christ  and  confirmed  by 
Holy  Writ  and  history,  the  Protestant  confessions  cannot  for  their  part  lay  claim. 
If  the  claim  of  the  exclusive  right  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  carry  on  missions  is 
evidently  a  dogmatically  necessary  result,  then  it  is  evident,  conversely,  that  such 
a  claim  on  the  part  of  the  Protestant  sects  is  an  absurd  inconsequence."  Accord- 
ingly, since  evangelical  missions  have  no  right  of  existence,  intrusion  upon  them 
and  waging  war  against  them  arc  not  only  allowed  but  commanded.  And  this  is 
not  a  private  opinion  but  the  official  view  of  the  case.  Evangelical  missionaries,  as 
Leo  XIII.  declares  in  his  Encyclical  "  Sancta  Dei  civitas  "  of  December  3,  1890,  are 
"  deceitful  men,  propagators  of  error,  who  appear  in  the  guise  of  Apostles  of  Christ "  ; 
"we  therefore,"  it  concludes,  "  cherish  the  firm  confidence  that  all  who  glory  in  the 
name  of  Catholics  will  not  allow  their  labours  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of 
Jesus  Christ  to  be  put  to  shame  by  the  zeal  and  efforts  of  those  who  seek  to  extend 
the  rule  of  the  Prince  of  darkness." 

1  It  is  true  that  there  are  some  evangelical  denominations,  in  particular  some 
American  ones,  which  do  also  register  as  missions  their  evangelising  and  proselytising 
work  among  the  Roman  Catholic  population.  These  are  exceptions,  however,  and  we 
against  their  doing  so,  as  confusing  to  the  evangelical  idea  of  missions.  We 
therefore  entirely  exclude  evangelising  activity  among  Roman  Catholics  from  our 
missionary  statistics. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  1 55 

Now,  I  have  also  consulted  other  sources  besides  Baumgarten  and  the 
Jahrbiicher  zur  Verbreitung  des  Glaubens  (German  edition),  more  particu- 
larly the  periodicals  Die  Katholischen  Missionen  and  Gott  will  es,  the  organ 
of  the  African  Society  of  German  Catholics,  and  also,  in  so  far  as  they 
were  accessible  to  me,  the  reports  of  the  individual  Catholic  missionary 
organisations.  But  "by  reason  of  the  imperfect  state  of  ecclesiastical 
statistical  science"  (cf.  Baumgarten's  Preface),  and  "by  reason  of  the 
ambiguous  character  of  very  many  statements  in  Catholic  books  and  com- 
pilations, which  is  the  result  of  the  almost  complete  dearth  of  scientific 
research  into  the  history  of  missions,  and  the  cause  of  an  almost  incredible 
confusion  and  obscuring  of  the  facts  of  the  case  "  (cf.  Baumgarten,  p.  374), 
the  Protestant  writer  of  Roman  Catholic  missionary  history  must  be  judged 
leniently  if  errors  creep  into  his  work.  The  Roman  Catholic  authorities 
must  first  of  all  furnish  us  with  really  reliable  historical  and  statistical 
data  ;  that  is  more  profitable  work  than  reproaching  us  with  ignorance, 
or  even,  as  I  have  often  experienced  in  Catholic  polemics,  with  party 
writing,  jugglery,  foul  play,  and  the  like.  Baumgarten's  statements  "in 
general  go  far  beyond  what  has  been  attained  in  this  respect  hitherto  " 
(Preface) ;  but,  besides  their  incompleteness,  they  are  also  often  found,  on 
exact  testing  of  their  details,  to  be  lacking  in  absolute  reliability,  and  the 
recital  is,  for  non-Catholics  at  least,  often  sadly  wanting  in  lucidity.  More- 
over, he  works  as  a  matter  of  course  from  the  Roman  Catholic  point  of  view 
of  missions  ;  it  is  true  he  has  regard  to  Roman  Catholic  missions  to  the 
heathen,  and  that  very  extensively,  but  he  does  not  give  a  specific,  least 
of  all  a  statistical  survey  of  them.  Nowhere  in  Roman  Catholic  mission- 
ary literature  is  this  to  be  found. 

1.  Historical  Survey  of  the  chief  Epochs  of  Catholic  Missionary  Enterprise.1 

The  Roman  Catholic  Church  has  this  glory  and  merit,  that  her 
missions  are  considerably  older  than  the  evangelical.  They  began  even 
before  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  as  a  result  of  the  great  geographical 
discoveries  of  the  Portuguese  and  Spaniards  and  the  conquests  which 
went  hand  in  hand  with  them.  These  discoveries  were  made,  as  has 
already  been  remarked  (par.  7),  in  two  directions,  towards  the  East  and 
towards  the  West ;  along  both  ways  it  was  sought  to  reach  India.  The 
former  direction  was  taken  by  the  Portuguese  under  the  leadership  of 
Diego  Cam,  Barthol  Diaz,  and  Vasco  da  Gama  ;  they  took  possession  of 
great  territories  in  Western  and  Eastern  Africa,  on  the  west  coast  of  India, 
Ceylon,  and  various  islands  of  the  Malay  Archipelago.  The  other  direc- 
tion was  taken  by  the  Spaniards  under  the  leadership  of  Columbus,  Cortez, 
and  Pizarro ;  they  made  themselves  lords  of  America  from  Mexico  to 
beyond  Peru.     Only  later  did  the  Portuguese  also  find  a  footing  in  South 

1  Bibliography  :  Henrion,  Histoire  generate  des  missions  Cailioliqv.es,  2  vols., 
Paris,  1846  ;  Hahn,  Geschichte  der  hathoUschen  Missionen  seit  Jesus  Christies  bis 
aufdie  neueste  Zeit,  5  Parts,  Koln.,  1857-63.  Both  are  rendered  almost  useless 
from  an  historical  point  of  view  by  their  oratorical  style,  and  their  naive,  uncritical, 
legendary  character.  Anyone  desiring  a  first-hand  impression  of  the  monstrous 
things  narrated,  especially  in  ancient  missionary  legend,  should  read  along  with 
Henrion  some  volumes  of  the  Lettres  fclif  antes  ct  curieuses,  which  came  out  in 
Paris  from  1717  to  1774.  A  bird's-eye  view  of  Roman  Catholic  missionary  legend  is 
given  in  Warneck's  Protestantische  Beleurhtung  der  romischen  Angriffe  avf  die 
evangelische  Heidenmission,  Gutersloh,  1884,  chap,  vi.— The  text  accompanying 
Werner's  Atlas  of  Roman  Catholic  Missions  (Freiburg,  1884)  is  useless  for  our  pur- 
pose.— As  the  third  part  of  that  brilliantly  illustrated  work  of  art,  Die  Kathohsche 
Kirche  unserer  Zeit  unci  Hire  Diener  in  Wort  undBild,  there  appeared  in  1901  Baumgar- 
ten's above-mentioned  elaborate  work,  Das  Wirken  der  Katholischen  Kirche  avf  dem 


156  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

America  and  the  Spaniards  in  the  Philippines.  From  the  beginning  the 
discoverers  and  conquerors  were  guided  also  by  religious  motives  ;  hence 
there  were  missionaries  in  their  train,  actual  member  of  religious  Orders, 
at  first,  besides  some  Benedictines,  only  Franciscans  and  Dominicans. 
However  gratifying  it  was  from  one  point  of  view  that  missionary  enter- 
prise was  at  once  linked  with  the  opening  up  of  the  New  World,  this 
alliance  was  nevertheless  ominous  from  another  point  of  view,  because 
it  not  only  had  to  serve  the  purpose  of  making  conquest  legitimate,  even 
sacred,  as  furthering  conversion,  the  missionary  enterprise  itself  was 
secularised,  in  that  it  used  the  sword  as  an  instrument  of  conversion. 
Everywhere  where  discovery  led  to  conquest  under  Portuguese  rule, 
above  all  on  the  Congo  and  on  the  west  coast  of  India,  and  also  to  an 
even  greater  extent  under  the  Spanish  rule  in  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  and 
South  America,  Christianisation  of  the  masses  of  the  most  superficial  sort 
imaginable  was  often  carried  on  in  conjunction  with  the  political  power 
by  means  of  much  coercion  and  often  of  the  most  brutal  violence. 
Protests  against  this  forcible  and  mechanical  method  of  carrying  on 
missions  were  not  wanting,  but  they  were  the  exception.  Men  such  as 
the  noble  Dominican  Las  Casas,  who  not  only  opposed  most  boldly  the 
cruelties  practised  upon  the  natives,  but  also  disapproved  of  the  un- 
christian methods  of  conversion — men  such  as  these  met  with  little 
sympathy  and  less  support.1  Happily,  however,  this  forcible  method 
of  conversion  at  least  was  not  continued,  though  the  connection  with  the 
powers  of  this  world  and  the  mechanical  manner  of  carrying  on  missions 
have  unfortunately  lasted  into  later  times. 

The  second  epoch  of  Roman  Catholic  missions  opens  with  the  rise  of 
the  Jesuit  Order,  and  in  particular  with  the  sending  out  to  India  in  1542 
of  the  most  celebrated  of  all  Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  Francis  Xavier.2 
Even  before  its  suppression  in  1773,  and  then  again  after  its  re-establish- 
ment in  1814,  this  Order  has  carried  on  almost  the  most  extensive  and 
influential  and  frequently  also  the  most  fatal  work  of  all  Catholic  missionary 
organisation.  By  means  of  it  the  missionary  sphere  of  Roman  Catholicism 
has  extended  far  beyond  the  borders  of  Portuguese  and  Spanish  territory. 
To  mention  only  the  principal  fields  of  this  Order  :  first  in  India,  and  from 
there  to  Japan  and  soon  afterwards  to  China,  Tonkin,  Cochin  China,  the 
Philippines  (Xavier  himself,  Nobili,  de  Brito,  Beschie,  Valignani ;  Ricci, 
Schall,  Verbiest,  Buzoni,  de  Rhodes),  then  in  America  as  far  as  Brazil, 
Paraguay  (Anchieta,  Vieyra),  and  subsequently  also  as  far  as  Canada  in 
the  north  among  the  Indians,  and  to  a  certain  extent  also  among  the 
negroes  (Claver)  ;  in  Africa  to  Abyssinia  (Paaz).     While  fully  acknow- 

Erdenrund,  miter  besondcrer  Ber'Acksichtigwng  dtr  ITeiden-mission.  In  spite  of 
many  sound  critical  remarks,  lie  too  is  not  devoid  of  rhetorical  exaggerations  and 
legendary  embellishments;  nevertheless,  although  rather  a  systematising  of  hier- 
archical edicts,  chronicles  and  statistics,  than  history  proper,  it  is  the  most  useful 
1  we  have  hitherto  possessed. 

In  periodica]  missionary  literature,  in  so  far  as  it  treats  of  Roman  Catholic  mis- 
ion  1  as  a  whole,  the  first  rank  is  occupied  by  the  Jahrbilcher  der  Verbreitumg  des 
Qlauiens,  which  has  been  published  in  ten  languages  since  1827  by  the  Society  of  St. 
Xavier,  and  the  Katholische  Missionen,  :n\  excellently  well-edited  ami  well-illus- 
1  rated  paper,  which  has  appeared  in  French  since  1868  and  also  in  German  since  1870. 

1  It  is  characteristic  that  Paumgarten  writes  even  nowadays,  "  The  heroi.'  and 
endeavours  of  Las  (  ';is;is  "  were  ''  at  times  unwise  !  " 

-  The  authentic  source  of  information  about  Xavier  is  the  collection  of  his  letters 
which  appeared  at  Bologna  in  1795  :  Smui.i.  Fnnirisri  Xoverii  rpi--!"f<yl-n,ii  omnium 
libri  quatuor,  A  fairly  complete  but  altogether  legendary  literature  on  the  life 
of  Xavier  is  to  be  found  in  Venn's  The  Missionary  Life  and  Labours  of  Francis 
Xavier,  taken  from  his  man  Correspond  n)  re  t  London,  1862. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  1 57 

ledging  the  great  gifts  of  many  Jesuit  missionaries  and  the  devoted  zeal 
of  most  of  them,  we  cannot  but  subject  to  the  most  rigid  criticism  their 
subtle  method — not  always  coupled  with  harmlessness — of  carrying  on 
missions,  and  which  was  directed  towards  the  conversion  of  the  masses,  was 
drilling  rather  than  educative,  and  exposed  Christianity  to  heathenising 
influence  by  its  accommodations.  And  brilliant  as  were  its  apparent  results, 
as  a  matter  of  fact  almost  everywhere  the  great  Jesuit  missionary  achiev- 
ments  have  collapsed  into  ruin.  They  were  houses  built  upon  sand,  the 
whole  enterprise  was  conquest  rather  than  conversion. 

Besides  the  Jesuits  (and  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans  who  were 
already  in  the  field  before  them)  a  considerable  increase  was  caused  at  this 
period  in  the  personnel  of  Catholic  missions  by  the  rise  of  the  Augustin- 
ians,  the  Carmelites,  the  Oratorians,  the  Theatines,  the  Capuchins,  and 
the  Lazarists,  so  that  a  great  host  of  missionaries,  whose  number  cannot 
be  statistically  determined,  were  at  work  over  large  districts  in  these 
continents. 

In  this  second  period  there  also  took  place  an  event  of  the  greatest 
importance  for  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  missionary  enterprise,  especi- 
ally in  respect  of  its  tremendous  organisation,  namely,  the  institution 
of  the  "  Congregatio  de  propaganda  fide  "  by  Pope  Gregory  xv.  in  1622. 
The  central  place  which  it  occupies  in  the  conduct  of  Roman  Catholic 
missions  makes  it  necessary,  however,  to  devote  a  special  section  to  it. 

The  second  period  is  the  glorious  age  of  earlier  Roman  Catholic 
missions.  Unfortunately,  however,  it  did  not  remain  at  its  height  much 
more  than  a  century  ;  then  a  third  period  set  in,  a  period  first  of  partial 
then  of  general  and  ever  more  rapid  decline.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  is,  after  an  activity  of  some  three  hundred  years,  and  carried 
on  though  they  were  with  great  expenditure  of  energy  and  sagacity  and 
by  very  numerous  workers,  with  powerful  assistance  from  the  secular 
powers,  and  lauded  in  a  rhetoric  of  superlatives,  "  the  condition  of 
missions  was  an  altogether  sad  one "  j  "a  bird's-eye  view  of  them  shows 
nothing  but  ruins  almost  everywhere,  missionary  fields  lying  waste,  a 
small  company  of  apostles  scarcely  able  to  hold  the  old  posts,  much  less 
to  make  fresh  conquests,"  as  Father  Huonder  demonstrated  at  the 
Krefeld  Conference  of  Roman  Catholics  in  1898.  The  reasons  for  this 
decline,  which  almost  ended  in  collapse, — besides  the  unevangelical 
missionary  method,  which  had  for  the  most  part  effected  only  an  external 
grafting  of  Christianity,  and  the  intimate  connection  with  political 
authorities, — were  these  :  the  gradual  decline  of  the  Portuguese  and 
Spanish  power,  which  was  only  partially  compensated  by  the  subsequent 
alliance  with  France,  the  reputed  "  soldier  of  the  Church " ;  the 
persecutions  which  unhappily  were  often  the  result  of  political  alliances 
and  agitation  ;  the  troubles  in  China  and  India  caused  by  the  principle 
of  accommodation ;  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuit  Order ;  the  so-called 
"  Aufklarung "  [see  par.  44],  and  the  French  Revolution.  Added  to  all 
this  there  had  been  a  cooling  of  missionary  zeal  even  long  before  the 
collapse,  owing  to  these  conditions  so  unfavourable  to  missions  and 
owing  to  the  jaded  condition  of  the  life  of  the  Church.  Down  to  the 
end  of  this  third  period  there  was  no  home  church  alive  with  missionary 
interest  behind  the  missionary  agencies.  The  financial  support  of 
missions,  when  not  provided  by  the  endowments  and  the  extensive 
business  enterprises  of  the  Orders,  came  from  State  coffers  ;  and  the 
more  this  State  aid  declined,  the  more  precarious  did  not  only  the  growth 
but  the  very  existence  of  missions  become. 

The  more  modern,  the  fourth  and  grandest  period  of  Roman  Catholic 


158  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

missions,  owes  its  rise  and  success,  not  to  speak  of  the  gradual  opening 
up  of  the  world,  partly  to  the  powerful  evangelical  missionary  movement, 
partly  to  the  re-establishment  of  the  Jesuit  Order  and  the  revivifying  of 
Romanism  consequent  upon  its  restoration.  Beside  the  old  missionary 
Orders,  there  gradually  stepped  into  the  missionary  field  a  great  number 
of  new  Orders,  congregations,  societies,  and  seminaries,  and  that  not  only 
in  the  old  forsaken  districts,  but  also  in  new  ones,  which  became  ever 
increasingly  occupied.  The  line  of  progress  runs  fairly  parallel  to  that  of 
evangelical  missionary  work,  and  the  progress  has  been  most  rapid  also  in 
Roman  Catholic  missions,  especially  in  connection  with  the  modern  colon- 
ising movement,  during  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Among  those  who  have  furthered  Roman  Catholic  missions  since  Gregory 
xvi.,  the  first  place  is  taken  by  the  Popes,  and  with  them  the  Cardinal  pre- 
fects of  the  Propaganda.  Among  the  founders  of  missionary  organisation 
in  the  nineteenth  century — together  perhaps  with  Libermann,  the  founder 
of  the  Congregation  of  the  Most  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  and  Dom  Bosco, 
the  founder  of  that  of  the  Salesians — none  has  worked  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionary  movement  so  energetically  and  successfully  as  the 
Archbishop  of  Algiers,  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  the  founder  of  the  Congrega- 
tion of  the  White  Fathers,  a  Prince  of  the  Church  as  powerful,  talented, 
and  distinguished  as  he  was  imperious,  fond  of  display  and  vainglorious, 
who  temporarily  drew  upon  himself  the  eyes  of  the  whole  of  Europe  by 
his  diplomatic  agitation  against  slavery.  A  Frenchman  to  the  backbone, 
he  bade  his  Fathers  "  march  to  work  for  France  also,"  a  command  char- 
acteristic of  Roman  Catholic  missions  generally  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
France,  "  whose  sword  everywhere  accomplishes  the  work  of  God,"  the 
"  arm  of  God,"  and  "  the  hope  and  support  of  the  Church  "—as  the 
Annals  frequently  boast — France  and  Roman  Catholic  missions  work 
hand  in  hand,  an  alliance  which  of  late  has  certainly  been  greatly  shaken. 
By  the  French  Protectorate,  Roman  Catholic  missions  have  been  as 
closely  as  possible  interwoven  with  French  politics,  and  these  with  Roman 
Catholic  missionary  interest,  an  ominous  fact,  of  which  even  Roman 
Catholic  agencies  seem  only  to  have  become  aware  now  that  this 
protectorate  no  longer  fulfils  its  obligations.  France  has  also  furnished 
the  main  contingent  of  the  personnel  of  Roman  Catholic  missions,  and 
contributed — at  least  until  lately — most  of  the  voluntary  offerings  for 
missions.  The  proportionate  share  taken  by  the  other  Roman  Catholic 
nations  in  supplying  the  missionary  staff  cannot,  however,  be  determined, 
and  their  share  in  financial  support,  as  we  shall  shortly  see,  only 
approximately  so.  Only  since  the  era  of  German  colonies  have  there 
been  independent  German  Roman  Catholic  missions,  and  since  then 
Germany's  share  in  Roman  Catholic  missionary  enterprise  has  been  with 
some  measure  of  accuracy  computable. 

As  already  indicated,  there  is  almost  no  question  of  a  home  side  to  the 
missionary  enterprise  of  the  earlier  periods  in  the  history  of  Roman 
Catholic  missions.  Missions  were  the  affair  of  the  Orders  or  the  State  ; 
in  one  respect  at  least  this  was  changed  in  the  course  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Certainly  not  in  this  respect,  that,  as  is  the  case  in  Protestant 
missionary  agencies,  even  in  those  which  are  of  an  official  ecclesiastical 
character,  the  direction  is  aided  by  advisory  courts,  committees,  General 
Assemblies,  Synods — that  is  excluded  from  Roman  Catholicism  by  the 
hierarchical  form  of  government — but  rather  in  this  respect,  that  the  body 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  people  is  taking  an  ever-increasing  share  in  the 
raising  of  supplies  for  missionary  work.  Only  to  this  end  have  free 
missionary  societies  been  called  into  existence. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 


iS9 


The  oldest  and  hitherto  the  greatest  of  these  societies  for  collecting 
money  is  The  Society  of  St.  Xavierfor  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,  founded 
in  1822.  Its  headquarters  are  in  Lyons,  but  since  it  collects  throughout 
the  whole  Koman  Catholic  world  it  bears  an  international  character, 
enjoys  the  most  active  protection  of  the  Popes,  the  Cardinal  Prefects  of 
the  Propaganda  and  many  bishops,  and  is  endowed  with  numerous 
indulgences  and  privileges  for  donors  and  collectors.  Its  organ  is  the 
already  frequently  mentioned  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith 
(Burns  &  Oates  Ltd.,  28  Orchard  Street,  London,  W.).  Its  total  receipts  in 
1902  were  £263,921 ; 1  of  this,  however,  some  £40,000  is  to  be  deducted,  it 
having  been  spent  in  Europe  and  America,  and  not  for  missions  to  the 
heathen  ;  so  that  only  some  £223,900  remains. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  proportionate  missionary  contributions  from 
the  individual  Roman  Catholic  countries,  I  reproduce  the  specialised  sums 
which,  according  to  the  Annals  (1903,  iii.  185),  make  up  the  above- 
quoted  sum  total,  without  deducting  the  amount  expended  on  home 
Church  work,  which  is  not  possible  from  this  source  : — 


France       ....  £154,400 

Germany,  including  Alsace  29,280 

Belgium    ....  14,000 

Italy         ....  11,850 

Spain        ....  6,200 

Great  Britain    .        .        .  5,600 

Switzerland       .         .         .  3,720 

The  Netherlands      .        .  3,600 

Austria     ....  2,420 

Portugal    ....  1,400 


The  Levant 

Luxemburg 

Hungary  . 

Russia  and  Poland 

Monaco     . 

Scandinavia 

Asia 

North  America 

The  rest  of  America 

Oceania    . 


£1,220 

1,160 

220 

72 

65 

9 

200 

17,600 

9,200 

510 


This  £223,900  of  the  Society  of  St.  Xavier  does  not,  however,  represent 
the  entire  financial  support  given  to  missions  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
people.  Apart  from  the  incomputable  amount  realised  by  church 
collections,  there  are  numerous  other  societies  for  collecting  money  in 
France,  Germany,  Austria,  Belgium,  England,  and  hypothetically  also 
Spain  and  Italy,  some  of  which  yield  considerable  sums.  In  tbe  case  of 
some  of  the  most  important,  however,  e.g.,  The  Society  of  the  Childhood 
of  Jesus  and  the  Society  of  St.  Louis,  and  also  in  the  case  of  sundry  of 
the  less  important,  e.g.,  The  Institution  of  the  Leopoldines,  not  incon- 
siderable deductions  are  to  be  made  from  the  sum  total,  because  the 
greater  or  lesser  portions  of  the  receipts  are  not  spent  on  missions  to  the 
heathen.  After  a  careful  examination  of  details,  I  estimate, — and  in 
spite  of  the  work  of  Baumgarten  we  are  still  left  to  estimate, — apart 
from  the  receipts  of  the  Society  of  St.  Xavier,  the  sum  total  given  to 
missions  by  collecting  from  Roman  Catholics  of  all  nationalities,  and 
taking  it  at  rather  too  high  than  too  low  a  figure,  as  about  £450,000,  or  at 
the  most  £500,000  per  annum  ;  so  that  the  entire  financial  support  given 
by  Roman  Catholics  to  missions  to  the  heathen  is  to  be  reckoned  to-day 
at  a  round  £700,000,  of  which  perhaps  £125,000  is  derived  from  Germany, 
where,  since  the  beginning  of  the  era  of  colonial  enterprise,  the  cause  of 
Roman  Catholic  missions  has  won  its  greatest  advance.  In  comparison 
with  Protestant  missionary  giving,  and  especially  if,  as  the  Roman 
Catholics  estimate,  there  are  264  millions  of  Roman  Catholics  and  only 

1  In  1903  they  were  only  £249,482.  The  receipts  seem  to  be  on  the  whole  declin- 
ing. In  1892  they  were  £265,108.  At  all  events,  they  have  been  fairly  stationary  for 
some  time  past. 


l60  AVI'ENDIX    TO    TART    I 

L66  millions  of  Protestants,  Lliu  Roman  Catholic  receipts  of  £700,000  niv  no 
brillianl  achievement,  although  Ltisnot  true, as Lavigerie  in  his  rhetorical, 
hyperbolic  Btyle  asserts,  that  "Protestants,  ul though  eight  timet    le 
aumerous  than  we,  give  fifteen  times  as  much  as  we  do  ! ! " ' 

Now,  ill'  course,  Roman  Catholic  missions,  far  and  away  exceeding 
evangelical  ones  as  they  do  in  number  of  workers  and  extent  of  territory, 
cannot  meet  their  necessities  with  some.  £700,000  a  year  from  voluntary 
contributions.  Where  do  the  other  funds,  which  must  be  much  greater, 
come  from?    From  three  sources:  from  the  capital  of  the  Propaganda, 

the  coffers  Of  the  Orders,  and  Slate  funds.  The  amount  drawn  from  these 
three  sources  has  never  yet  heen  ascertained.  Human  Catholic  missions 
publish  no  balance-sheet  of  their  income  and  expenditure,9 

In  Baumgarten's  work  there  are  for  the  lirst  time  statistics  given 
which  make  if  possible  to  estimate  at  least  approximately  the  Mini  total 
contributed  in  support  of  Roman  Catholic  missions.  Thus  at  the  end 
(cf.  p.  110)  he  gives  a  general  survey  of  the  expenditure  upon  Roman 
Catholic  missions  during  the  nineteenth  century.  According  to  it,  the 
contributions  during  that  entire  century  by  means  of  collecting  by 
societies,  missionary  institutions,  and  individual  missionaries  amounted 
to  a  round  some  of  £24,625,000,* — a  total  which  must  certainly  be  very 

1  Cf.  The  Annuls,  1881,  200.  Nehcr  in  the  preface  to  bia  book  <>n  the  Society  oi 
St.  Xavier  characteristically  adds :  "Only  the  conclusion  is  false  which  is  deduced 
from  this  find.,  Unit  a  lesser  interest  in  the  propagation  of  the  faith  prevails  amongst 
as  ( 'si  holies." 

-To  a  question  on  this  matter  Catholic  Missions  once  gave  me  the  following 
answer  :  "It  is  not  exactly  our  busine  is  Do  aid  and  facilitate  the  searches  of  certain 

gentlemen  with  regard  to  Catholic  institutions  and  societies." 

*  £22,528,525  raised  by  societies  and  church  collections,  plus  £2,100,000  raised  bj 

unknown  BOOieties  and  individual  collecting.  The  lirst  amount  is  specialised  by 
Baumgarten  as  follows: — 

1.  The  Association  for  the  Propagation  ot  the  Faith         .  £13,750,000* 

2.  The  Society  of  the  Holy  Childhood  of  Jesus     .  .     2,850,000* 
8.  The  Association  of  St.  Boniface  .          .          .  .     1,800,000 

4.  The  St.  Louis  Association  ....        020,000* 

5.  The  Association  on  behalf  of  Sohools  in  the  Orient      .        182,000 
G.  The  Leopoldine  Institution         ....         150,000* 

7.  The  Epiphany  Collections  for  Missions  .  .  .        350,000 

8.  Thed I  Friday  Collections  for  the  Holy  Land  .        400,000 

!).   The  African  Association  of  Cennan  Catholics    .  .  75,000 

10.  The  Association  of  Mary  on  behalf  of  Africa  .  .  85,000 

11.  Collecting  Boxes  for  the  Lepers  in  Burma  .  .  25,000 

12.  The  Little  Sisters  of  the  Assumption     .  .  .  4ti,O0O* 
18.  The  work  of  the  P '  of  the  Holy  Cross  (?)  .  .  0,525 

14.  The  Society  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre        .  .  .  17,000 

15.  The  Society  of  Protecting  Angels  .  .  .  20,500 
Hi.  The  Knechtsteden  Association    ....  5,250 

17.  The  Association  on  behalf  of  pooi  Negro  Children  is 

Central  Africa  .....  29,000 

18.  St.  Petrus  Claver-Sodalitat  [Kath.  Miss.  1908,07)       .  28,600 

19.  CEuvre  >\<-r.  partants        ...._.  80,000 

20.  Collections  for  the  freedom  of  Slaves  and  the  Anti- 

slavery  Association     .....        210,750 

Total     .  £22,528,525 

in  this  table  those  Bums  opposite  Nos,  8,  5,  8,  14,  15  are  to  be  excluded  and 
those  marked  with  an  asterisk  arc  to  be  more  or  less  reduced.  Probably  those 
statements  are  defective,  bu1  thej  serve  toproteol  me  from  the  charge  thai  I  have 
made  too  low  an  estimate  of  the  contributions  collected  outside  the  Society  ol  St. 
Xavier.     According  to  Baumgarten,  the  Society  of  St.  Xavier  collected  during  the 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  l6l 

much  reduced,  since  it  includes  considerable  sums  not  spent  on  missions 
to  the  heathen.  But  let  us  leave  that.  Baumgarten  then  proceeds  to  set 
the  total  sum  of  Roman  Catholic  expenditure  in  the  nineteenth  century 
at  a  round  sum  of  £80,300,000,  so  that  according  to  him  scarcely  one-third 
of  the  means  of  support  is  derived  from  voluntary  contributions.  Accord- 
ing to  him,  the  rest,  fully  two-thirds  of  the  whole,  comes  from — 

1.  Grants  from  colonial  governments         .    £4,150,000 

2.  Contributions   from  the  Pope  and  the 

Propaganda  and  from  the  property  of 
the  missionaries  of  the  Orders  (there- 
fore not  from  the  property  of  the 
missionary  Orders  themselves)    .         .     12,550,000 

3.  Other  sources 39,000,000 

Wherein  this  third  and  chief  category  consists  he  does  not  say,  "  because 
it  does  not  at  present  and  for  easily  understood  reasons  seem  to  him 
advisable  to  account  more  exactly  for  the  other  sums  " — namely,  this  little 
detail  of  £39,000,000.  Hence  the  mysterious  curtain  remains  drawn 
before  and  behind.  That  the  coffers  of  the  Orders  are  what  it  chiefly 
hides  is  surely  a  justifiable  supposition.  In  the  twentieth  century  the 
grants  from  colonial  governments  should  considerably  decrease,  since  not 
only  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  but  probably  also  from  France,  not  much 
more  is  to  be  expected. 

2.  The  Congregatio  de  Propaganda  Fide. 

Since  1622  Roman  Catholic  missions  have  been  under  a  central 
authority,  "the  Congregatio  de  propaganda  fide,"  popularly  known  as 
the  Propaganda^  which  was  definitely  constituted  by  Gregory  xv.,  and 
is  under  the  immediate  jurisdiction  of  the  Popes.  By  this  the  manifold 
missionary  enterprises  of  the  various  Orders,  hitherto  relatively  indepen- 
dent, were  brought  under  a  single  supreme  direction.  Before  the 
existence  of  this  authority,  there  was,  as  we  have  seen,  no  lack  of  mis- 
sionary institutions,  but  every  one  of  the  monastic  Orders  carried  on  its 
missionary  work  as  a  sort  of  private  affair.  Indirectly,  indeed,  the  send- 
ing out  of  missionaries  by  the  Orders  was  carried  on,  even  before  the 
institution  of  the  Propaganda,  by  papal  authority,  in  so  far  as  responsi- 
bility for  it  was  expressly  acknowledged  in  the  statutes  of  the  Orders 
which  required  papal  sanction.  The  typical  method  of  missionary  work 
according  to  church  law  was  therefore  that  of  the  papal  delegation,  on 
which  has  rested  and  still  does  rest  the  whole  organism  of  Roman 
Catholic  missions.  "What  was  new  was  that  with  the  institution  of  the 
Propaganda  there  was  created  a  strictly  papal  supreme  missionary 
authority,  which  should  have  the  control  of  every  enterprise  for  the 
propagation  of  the  faith,  together  with  all  that  appertained  thereunto. 
By  this  means  the  individual  schemes  and  endeavours  which  had  hitherto 
promoted  missions  were  brought  to  an  end  ;  not  in  the  sense  that  from 
henceforth  the  Propaganda  was  to  train,  send  out  and  allocate  every 
single  missionary,  but  that  in  the  name  of  the  Pope  it  laid  the  duty  of 
missions  upon  all  the  missionary  Orders,  or  associations  of  the  nature  of 

nineteenth  century  far  more  than  half  of  what  was  given  to  Roman  Catholic  missions. 
I  have  accredited  it  with  only  a  bare  third  at  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century, 
leaving  fully  two-thirds  to  the  other  societies,  which  is  far  more  than  Baumgarten 
does. 

II 


1 62  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

Orders,  and  in  particular  upon  tlieir  superiors.,  and  placed  them  under  its 
own  supervision  and  guidance. 

Directly  in  the  hands  of  the  Propaganda  lies  the  appointment  and 
removal  of  all  missionary  directors  :  the  Apostolic  Prefects,  Provicars, 
Vicars,  and  Bishops.  The  Prefect  is  simply  the  head  (superior)  of  a  new 
mission,  who  receives  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  as  soon  as  communities 
(missiones,  stationes,  collegia)  have  been  formed  in  the  districts  taken 
possession  of ;  only  he  may  not  ordain.  If  the  mission  makes  progress, 
the  Apostolic  Prefecture  is  raised  to  an  Apostolic  Vicariate.  That  is  to 
say,  where  there  is  no  bishopric  the  Pope  acts  as  bishop,  and,  since  he 
cannot  himself  exercise  his  episcopal  functions  in  the  mission  field,  he 
appoints  an  apostolic  vicar  in  his  stead  with  the  authority  of  a  bishop. 
But  the  Apostolic  Vicariate,  although  it  often  remains  a  missionary 
institution  for  a  long  period,  is  only  of  an  interim  character  ;  as  soon  as 
the  Christianisation  of  the  region  in  question  has  led  to  a  consolidated 
condition  of  things,  it  becomes  a  missionary  bishopric.  The  missionary 
bishops  are  endowed  with  exactly  the  same  rights  and  powers  as  the 
bishops  in  the  Home  Church,  except  that  they  are  dependent  upon 
the  Propaganda. 

Besides  the  appointment  of  missionary  superiors  and  the  apportioning 
of  authority  (litterce  patentes,  titulus  missionarii)  to  the  missionaries 
enlisted  by  the  authorised  missionary  agencies,  the  supervision  and 
guidance  (jurisdictio,  proUctio)  exercised  by  the  Propaganda  consists  in 
the  right  to  demand  the  most  comprehensive  reports,  to  organise  visita- 
tions by  special  legates  at  any  time,  to  summon  missionary  superiors  to 
Pome,  to  decide  all  important  missionary  questions,  disputes,  etc.,  to 
frame  laws,  and  to  communicate  all  papal  privileges  to  missions.  The 
sphere  over  which  the  Propaganda  exercises  supervision  is  the  world,  in 
so  far  as  it  is  not  officially  Koman  Catholic,  together  with  the  Church  in 
partibus  infidelium : 1  only  the  Catholicce  regiones,  which  are  firmly  con- 
stituted on  the  hierarchical  system  and  are  the  provinces  of  the  Holy 
Chair,  are  removed  from  its  jurisdiction.  Since  1886  its  organ  has  been 
the  Missiones  Catholicce,  which  does  not,  however,  appear  regularly  every 
year.     The  last  number  came  out  in  1901. 

The  personnel  of  this  tremendous  institution  is  appointed  directly  by 
the  Pope,  the  actual  members  for  life,  the  lower  officials  ad  beneplaciimn. 
At  its  inception  it  had  a  staff — without  counting  the  lower  officials — of 
thirteen  cardinals,  three  prelates,  and  one  member  of  a  religious  Order  ; 
in  1901,  of  twenty-five  Cardinales-prcrpositi,  including  the  General-Pre- 
fect, thirty-nine  Consultores,  eleven  secretaries,  and  twenty  members  of 
two  special  commissions,  together  with  thirty-nine  procurators  and  fifty- 
six  officials  pro  negotiis  ritus  orientalis :  a  stately  missionary  cabinet  of  190 
ministers.  The  Propaganda  has  also  very  considerable  wealth  at  its  dis- 
posal, but  concerning  this  absolute  silence  is  preserved. 

The  Collegium  urbanum  de  propaganda  fide,  founded  by  Urban  vm.  in 
1627,  is  in  connection  with  the  Propaganda.  In  1901  it  had  110  alumni 
belonging  to  the  most  diverse  nationalties,  and  besides  five  moderatores, 
had  twenty-five  professors  (!),  a  show  seminary,  in  which  at  the  Feast  of 
the  Epiphany,  in  order  to  reproduce  the  miracle  of  Pentecost,  speeches 
learnt  by  heart  and  whose  meaning  is  said  to  be  not  always  understood 
by  the  orators,  are  made  in  many  tongues. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Propaganda  did  not  at  once  succeed  in  really 
putting  into  practice  the  statutory  powers  with  which  it  was  invested  ; 

1  Of  the  675  pages  given  to  the  survey  of  the  mission  field  of  the  Propaganda  in 
the  Miss.  Cath.,  278  pages  are  occupied  with  Europe  and  North  Aim  r.  a. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  1 63 

the  independent  spirit  of  the  missionary  Orders,  and  especially  of  the 
Jesuits,  caused  much  friction  and  even  some  insubordination ;  hut  by 
degrees  it  really  got  the  reins  of  missionary  rule  into  its  hanels,  and 
became  what  it  was  intended  to  be  :  the  central  board  of  control  over  the 
entire  missionary  enterprise  of  Eoman  Catholicism.  Despite  all  the 
clockwork  involved  in  this  centralised  administration,  it  has  nevertheless 
produced  an  organisation  which  is  the  chief  strength  of  Eoman  Catholic 
missions.  For  it  renders  possible  the  management  of  the  whole  in 
accordance  with  a  uniform  will,  which  understands  how  to  attain  its 
ends  with  diplomatic  skill  as  clever  as  its  perseverance  is  tenacious.  If 
we  add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  missionary  superiors  of  various  ranks 
under  the  Propaganda  are  in  their  developing  or  developed  sees  more  or 
less  viceroys,  and  that  such  a  system  not  only  very  much  simplifies  the 
whole  organisation  of  missions,  but  also  makes  initiative  and  energy 
more  possible  than  does  missionary  independence  or  government  by 
Synods,  it  is  easily  understood  why  Roman  Catholic  missions  are  proud 
of  this  organisation  and  even  call  it  their  "  life  element."  This  boast  is, 
of  course,  very  characteristic  of  what  Rome  understands  by  life,  namely, 
a  hierarchical  machinery  in  perfect  working  order ;  but  that  its  chief 
strength  does  lie  in  this  organisation  is  a  fact. 

3.  Missionary  Agencies  under  the  Propaganda. 

The  personnel  of  Roman  Catholic  missions  is  composed  exclusively  of 
members  of  the  Orders  or  of  associations  of  the  nature  of  Orders. 
According  to  Baumgarten,1  the  total  number  of  regular  priests  is  109,049 
— that  of  the  secular  priests  251,510 ;  but  there  must  also  be  added  to 
these  a  considerable  contingent  of  servitor  brothers,  with  regard  to  the 
entire  number  of  whom  we  have  no  statistics,  but  which  may  meanwhile  lie 
computed  as  equal  to  at  least  half  the  number  of  the  "  patres."  The 
Romish  Church  has  therefore  at  her  disposal  from  the  monastic  Orders 
a  staff  of  some  160,000  to  170,000  persons,  not  reckoning  some  70,000  to 
80,000  novices.  And  still  greater  than  the  staff  of  male  workers  is  that 
of  the  female  ;  Baumgarten  computes  this  at  457,667  nuns.  Now,  of 
course,  only  a  fraction  of  these  hundreds  of  thousands  belong  to  mission- 
ary Orders,  and  out  of  many  missionary  Orders  only  a  small  percentage 
are  missionaries  to  the  heathen  ;  the  Catholic  Church  has,  however,  in  the 
members  of  the  Orders  a  numerous  mass  of  human  material,  to  some 
extent  prepared,  from  which  she  can  easily  recruit  her  workers  for 
missionary  service.  In  particular,  the  "fratres"  are  as  useful  as  they 
are  inexpensive  coadjutors  of  the  priestly  missionaries,  because  they  do 
the  secular  and  cultural  work  involved  in  the  missionary  enterprise,  and 
upon  which  so  much  store  is  set  in  Catholic  missions. 

The  missionary  Orders  and  congregations  with  which  alone  we  have 
to  do  fall  into  two  classes  :  those  which  have  other  functions  besides  that 
of  missionary  work  proper,  and  those  which  devote  themselves  entirely 
to  missionary  work.  The  former  are  all  of  them  older  established,  the 
latter  almost  all  of  them  only  founded  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Since 
many  of  these  Orders  are  international,  although  some  bear  a  distinctly 
national,  especially  a  French  and  of  recent  years  also  a  German  character, 
we  must  forbear  to  group  them  according  to  nationality,  as  we  have  done 
in  the  case  of  the  evangelical  missionary  societies,  and  must  follow  as  far 
as  possible  a  chronological  order.  Moreover,  in  respect  of  statistics  we 
are  in  great  difficulty,  because  the  sources  at  our  disposal  throughout  do 
1  See  Baumgarten's  work,  p.  379  ff. 


1 64  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

not  render  it  possible  to  make  absolutely  reliable  statements  as  to  the 
total  number  of  missionaries  to  the  heathen  sent  out  by  the  various 
missionary  agencies  in  question,  nor  as  to  the  number  of  converts  from 
heathenism  under  their  care.  Only  the  most  important  agencies  can  be 
included  in  the  following  survey. 

1.  The  Franciscans  (Fr.) *  must  be  mentioned  first,  for  they  began  to 
missionise  in  various  parts  of  Africa  as  early  as  the  fifteenth  century. 
Later  they  also  began  work  in  China,  South,  Central,  and  North  America, 
in  the  Holy  Land,  in  North  Africa,  and  lastly  in  Australia  ;  but  missions 
to  the  heathen  are  at  the  present  time  carried  on  by  them  to  any  large 
extent  only  in  China,  where  they  have  nine  Apostolic  Vicariates,  and  to 
some  extent  in  North  Africa  and  among  the  North  American  Indians. 
Of  the  16,500  members  of  the  Order  (including  "fratres")  there  are, 
according  to  Baumgarten,  "about  5000  serving  the  Church  in  actual 
missions."  This  figure  must,  however,  be  reduced  to  a  twelfth  of  its 
total,  if  we  would  understand  by  missions  actual  missions  to  the  heathen. 

2.  The  Order  of  the  Dominicans  (Dom.)  "was  once,  together  with  the 
Franciscans,  the  most  important  missionary  Order  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  has  won  immortal  merit  by  its  evangelisation  of  the  newly  discovered 
countries  in  America  and  Asia."  Threatened  with  almost  complete  anni- 
hilation at  the  turn  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  Order  again  slowly  but 
steadily  regained  strength  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  in  1900  had  437G 
members  in  over  300  settlements.  In  South  and  North  America,  as  also 
in  the  Philippines,  it  is  now  only  engaged  in  pastoral  work  and  in  the 
Orient  among  schismatics.  Its  actual  missionary  work  is  virtually  con- 
fined to  Indo-China,  China,  and  to  some  extent  the  Antilles,  and  in  it 
there  are  altogether  perhaps  140  missionary  priests. 

3.  The  chief  missionary  Order,  even  in  the  nineteenth  century,  is  that 
of  the  Jesuits  (S.J.).  Of  its  some  15,000  members,  3835  are  to-day  reported 
as  working  in  the  mission  field.  But  if  its  extensive  operations  among 
non-Romish  Christians  be  set  aside,  its  missionary  sphere  is  reduced  to 
the  basins  of  the  Congo  and  the  Zambesi  and  Madagascar  in  Africa  ; 
J Iindostan,  Ceylon,  and  China  in  Asia;  limited  districts  in  the  Malay 
Archipelago,  Oceania  and  the  United  States,  Canada  and  Alaska  in 
North  America.  There  may  be  perhaps  1150  actual  missionaries  to  the 
heathen  at  work  in  these  fields. 

4.  The  Order  of  Cajmchins  (Kp.),  which  began  its  missionary  activity 
as  early  as  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  has  in  missionary  service, 
according  to  Roman  Catholic  reports,  about  700  of  its  9700  members, 
and  according  to  our  reduced  calculation  perhaps  240  priests.  Its  spheres 
of  labour  are  chiefly,  besides  Syria  and  Mesopotamia,  in  India,  Erythrea, 
the  Galla  lands,  the  Caroline  Islands,  and  in  Chile  among  the  Araucanians. 

5.  The  2000  members  of  the  Order  if  Barefooted  Carmelites  (U.Kp.),  which 
also  missionised  as  early  as  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  seventeenth 
worked  among  the  Catholics  of  Malabar,  are  to-day,  besides  in  Bagdad, 
working  chiefly  in  India,  with  some  45  patres  and  numerous  fratres  and 
sorores. 

6.  TJie  Order  of  Lazariste  (Lz.),  with  its  3300  members,  which  was  founded 
in  1632,  but  has  only  been  engaged  in  missionary  work  since  the  middle 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  carries  on  extensive  missions  to  the  heathen 
at  the  present  time  in  China,  a  smaller  one  in  Madagascar,  and  proselytises 
in  Persia,  Syria,  and  Abyssinia.  The  staff  of  priests  in  its  missions  to 
the  heathen  numbers  some  160. 

1  The  abbreviations  in  brackets  are  made  use  of  in  the  subsequent  survey  of  the 
fields. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  l6$ 

7.  The  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (C.S.Sp.),  founded  in  1702  and 
in  the  mission  field  since  1750,  united  in  1848  with  the  Congregation  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  founded  by  Libermann  in  1841.  It  has  2150 
members,  of  whom  350  priests,  with  223  brothers  and  256  sisters,  are 
carrying  on  missions  to  the  heathen  chiefly  in  wide  districts  of  West 
Africa,  but  also  in  East  Africa  and  Madagascar. 

8.  The  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Hearts  of  Jesus  and  Mary  and  of  the 
Perpetual  Adoration  of  the  Holy  Sacrament,  abbreviated  into  "the  Picpus 
Association"  (P.C.),  from  the  name  of  the  street  in  Paris  in  which  it  had 
its  chief  settlement,  although  founded  in  1792,  only  began  missionary 
operations  in  1826,  and  that  on  sundry  islands  in  Oceania,  where  it 
now  maintains  some  50  priests,  together  with  60  brothers  and  sisters. 
Father  Damian,  of  world-wide  reputation  by  reason  of  his  work  among 
the  lepers  in  Hawaii,  belonged  to  this  bod}\ 

9.  The  Congregation  of  the  Oblates  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary  (O.E.), 
which  was  founded  in  1816,  has  some  250  of  its  1370  members  (and  130 
fratres)  in  missionary  service,  and  those  virtually  all  in  British  North 
America,  Ceylon,  and  South  Africa. 

10.  Three  Congregations  of  the  Salesians(O.Q.) :  (a)  that  of  the  Oblates  of 
St.  Francois  de  Sales  at  Troyes ;  (6)  that  of  Annecy  ;  (c)  that  of  Turin. 
They  came  into  existence  between  1829  and  1842,  and  among  their  some 
5000  members  reckon  fully  90  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  at  work  prin- 
cipally in  India  and  South  Africa. 

11.  The  Marists  (M.),  or  the  Association  of  Mary,  which  was  founded  in 
1836,  maintains  about  140  missionaries  to  the  heathen  on  various  groups 
of  islands  in  Oceania. 

12.  13.  Tlie  Associations  of  the  Most  Sacred.  Heart  of  Jesus  of  Issoudan 
and  of  the  Immaculate  Heart  of  Mary  (J.J.u.Sch.),  or  the  Scheutfeld 
Fathers,  founded  respectively  in  1854  and  1863,  are  co-operating  with 
200  missionaries  to  the  heathen  in  New  Guinea,  the  Bismarck  Archi- 
pelago, Polynesia,  West  Africa,  Mongolia,  and  China. 

14.  The  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  (C.J.)  for  Missions  in 
Central  Africa  maintains  only  a  small  number  of  patres  and  fratres  in  the 
Soudan. 

15.  The  Congregation  of  the  Missionaries  of  Algiers  (W.V.),  or  the  White 
Fathers,  called  into  existence  in  1868  by  Cardinal  Lavigerie,  soon  sur- 
passed in  point  of  number  of  members,  extent  of  missionary  sphere  and 
number  of  supporters,  all  other  modern  foundations.  Nowadays  it 
reckons  upon  a  round  1000  members,  of  whom  perhaps  the  third  part  are 
working  in  missions  to  the  heathen  on  the  East  African  coast.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  military  monastic  Order,  "  The  armed  brothers  of  the 
Sahara,"  organised  by  the  same  militant  Prince  of  the  Church,  had  no 
permanence. 

16.  The  Association  oftheDivine  Word  (S.V.D.)  in  Steyl,  founded  in  1875, 
has  made  great  progress  in  a  short  time.  It  has  at  its  disposal  to-day  more 
than  250  priests  (630  lay  brothers),  of  whom  65  (  +  25)  are  working  as  actual 
missionaries  to  the  heathen  in  China  (in  Shantung),  in  Togo  and  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  land.     Bishop  Anzer  has  won  the  most  renown  among  them. 

Of  the  older  missionary  Orders,  the  Benedictines,  the  Premonstratinsians, 
and  the  Augustinians  do  on  the  whole  little  to-day  for  missions  to  the 
heathen.  The  Trappists  (Tr.),  on  the  contrary,  have  become  a  stately 
missionary  army  since  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in 
Australia,  South  and  East  Africa,  and  on  the  Congo.  Including  the 
eight  or  ten  smaller  congregations,  there  are  perhaps  400  more  mission- 
aries to  the  heathen  to  be  added  to  those  above  mentioned. 


1 66  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

Besides  the  missionary  staff  sent  out  by  the  Orders  and  the  Congrega- 
tions, there  is  another  considerable  contingent  from  the  miss%onary 
seminaries  called  "  collegia  seecularia,"  and  forming  societies  of  the  nature 
of  Orders,  whose  missionaries  are  not,  however,  actually  registered  as 
regular  clerics.1 

Disregarding  the  already  mentioned  Collegium  urbanum  de  propa- 
ganda fide,  which  cannot  be  accounted  an  independent  missionary 
agency,  the  foremost  of  these  seminaries  is  that  of  Paris.  It  was  founded 
as  early  as  1GG3,  though  it  only  reached  prosperity  in  the  second  decade 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  is  united  with  the  Societe  des  missions 
etrangeres  at  Paris  ;  it  is  the  greatest  of  all  Roman  Catholic  agencies  for 
missions  to  the  heathen.  Its  extensive  spheres  of  labour  are  all  in  Asia  ; 
both  in  the  French  possessions  in  that  continent,  and  in  India,  Siam, 
Laos,  Malacca,  China,  Korea,  and  Japan.  The  number  of  its  mission- 
aries at  work  among  non-Christians  amounts  to  1250,  besides  more 
than  GOO  native  priests,  and  1  j  million  Roman  Catholics  are  under  its  care. 

After  the  model  of  the  Paris  Seminary — not  to  speak  of  the  small 
Seminary  of  the  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul  founded  at  Rome  in  1867 — 
there  have  been  three  others  of  considerable  size  called  into  existence  : 
that  of  Milan  in  1850  with  at  the  present  time  112  missionaries  ;  that  of 
Lyon  in  1856  with  108  missionaries,  and  that  of  St.  Joseph  at  Mill  Hill 
near  London  in  1866  with  60  missionaries. 

In  conclusion,  on  account  of  the  special  interest  which  they  have  for 
us,  let  me  give  a  special  survey  of  the  Roman  Catholic-  missionary  agencies 
of  Germany,  which,  as  has  already  been  remarked,  have  all  been  constituted 
since  the  middle  of  the  ninth  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  There 
was  no  question  of  founding  new  missionary  Orders ;  merely  offshoots, 
branch  missions  of  already  existing  missionary  Orders,  were  formed,  and 
they  work  almost  exclusively  in  the  German  colonies.  Of  such  relatively 
independent  missionary  agencies  of  German  Roman  Catholicism  the 
following  nine  have  arisen  in  the  space  of  not  quite  twenty  years  : — 

1.  Two  mission  houses  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  at 
Knechtsteden  in  the  Rhine  Province,  and  one  at  Zabern  in  Alsace,  with 
22  patres,  16  fratres,  and  28  sorores.     (North  Zanzibar.) 

2.  The  Association  of  St.  Benedict  at  St.  Ottilieu  in  Bavaria  :  13 
patres,  17  fratres,  23  sorores.     (South  Zanzibar.) 

3.  Three  missionary  institutes  of  the  White  Fathers  of  Algiers  at 
Trier,  in  the  neighbouring  Marienthal  in  Luxembourg  and  at  Haigerloch 
in  Hohenzollern :  66  patres,  26  fratres,  33  sorores.  (Tanganyika, 
Unyamyembe,  South  Nyanza.) 

4.  Three  mission  houses  of  the  Association  of  the  Pallotines  in 
Limburg,  Ehrenbreitenstein,  and  Valendar :  13  patres,  24  fratres,  13 
sorores.     (Cameroons.) 

5.  Three  mission  houses  of  the  Association  of  the  Divine  Word  at 
Steyl  (in  Holland,  near  the  Prussian  frontier),  Heiligkreuz  in  Silesia,  and 
St.  Wendel  in  the  district  of  Treves  :  32  patres,  21  fratres,  20  sorores. 
(Togo,  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  land,  and  Kiautschou.) 

6.  The  mission  house  of  the  Oblates  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary 
at  Hiinfeld  near  Fulda  :  12  patres,  17  fratres.  (Northern  German  South- 
West  Africa.) 

1  Baumgarten  remarks  :  "  With  regard  to  the  missionaries  of  tlie  Paris  and  Lyons 
Seminaries,  the  objection  might  be  raised  that  they  are  not  entitled  to  be  reckoned 
us  regular  clerics.  According  to  the  letter  of  the  law  this  is  so,  hut  :t«  a  matter 
of  fact  they  arc  so  associated  that  they  more  closely  resemble  priests  under  the 
congregations  than  secular  priests."    Cf.  p.  2G3. 


APPENDIX    TO    PART    I  1 67 

7.  The  mission  house  of  the  Salesian  Oblates  in  Oberdobling  near 
Vienna  :  2  patres,  4  sorores.     (Southern  German  South-West  Africa.) 

8.  The  three  mission  houses  of  the  Association  of  the  Missionaries  of 
the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus  in  Hiltrup  and  Oventrop  in  Westphalia  and  in 
Liefering  near  Salzburg :  33  patres,  33  fratres,  24  sorores.  (The 
Bismarck  and  Marshall  Archipelagos.) 

9.  The  mission  house  of  the  Association  of  Mary  in  Meppen  :  21 
patres,  7  fratres,  10  sorores.     (The  islands  of  Samoa  and  Salomon.) x 

This  means  a  German  personnel  of  214  patres,  161  fratres,  and  155 
sorores.2  Although  this  missionary  staff  is  partly  included  in  the  statistics 
of  the  respective  Orders,  I  will  nevertheless  add  it,  as  the  numbers  stand 
to  those  figures  already  given.  There  it  appears,  if  I  take  the  numbers 
at  a  round  figure,  that  during  1902  and  1903  there  was  a  Roman  Catholic 
body  of  5900  priests  in  missionary  service  among  the  heathen,  not  to 
mention  the  numerous  secular  clergy  at  work,  especially  in  the  older 
fields  of  labour,  and  regarding  the  total  number  of  whom  I  have  no 
reliable  statistics  to  hand.  But  greater  still  than  this  army  is  that  of  the 
non-priestly  Roman  Catholic  missionary  workers,  namely,  the  brothers, 
and  sisters.  How  great  is  their  percentage  can  be  gathered  from  the 
carefully  compiled  statistics  of  the  German  missionary  agencies  quoted 
above  :  316  fratres  and  soi-ores  as  against  214  patres.  Unfortunately  we 
lack  reliable  sources  of  information  from  which  to  ascertain  their  per- 
centage as  a  whole  ;  but  if  it  be  remembered  that  not  only  do  the  Orders 
and  Congregations  employ  numerous  lay  brothers  in  missionary  service, 
but  that  there  are  also  a  number  of  such  associations  as  only,  or  almost 
only,  consist  of  lay  brothers,  as  for  example  that  of  St.  John  of  God  and 
of  Jean  Baptist  la  Salle,  one  can  scarcely  be  in  error  if  one  estimates  the 
total  number  of  fratres  employed  in  missionary  service  at  at  least  two- 
thirds  of  that  of  the  patres.  And  the  number  of  sisters  who  are  lauded 
with  rhetorical  exaggeration  as  "  angels  of  mercy,"  "  for  whom  no  praise 
is  too  loud,  nor  reward  too  great "  (cf.  Baumgarten,  p.  62),  can  scarcely  be 
less.  So  that  the  entire  body  of  Roman  Catholics  working  in  missions  to 
the  heathen  amounts  altogether  to  perhaps  14,100  persons,  not  including 
the  secular  clergy. 

The  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  are  trained  partly  (and  these  are  in 
the  majority)  in  the  institutes  of  the  Orders  and  Congregations,  partly  in 
collegiis  scecularibus,  the  most  important  of  which  have  already  been 
mentioned.  Both  classes  of  institution  are  under  the  oversight  of  the 
Propaganda,  which  controls  them  by  its  procuratores.  As  to  the  curri- 
culum in  these  training  institutes,  little  is  to  be  learnt ;  presumably  it  is 
essentially  the  same  as  in  the  seminaries  for  priests  ;  so  that  the  patres 
among  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  do  receive  a  theological  training, 
even  though  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  thoroughly  academical  one. 

[The  English  reader  will  naturally  desire  to  know  the  part  taken  by 
the  Roman  Catholics  of  Britain  in  foreign  missions,  but  on  this  point 
there  is  little  information  to  be  had.  In  a  paper  on  "  English-speaking 
Catholics  and  Foreign  Missions,"  read  at  the  Catholic  Truth  Society's 
Conference  in  Blackburn  in  September  1905,  Father  Jackson  bemoaned 
the  fewness  of  English  and  Irish  missionaries.     As  an  illustration  he 

1  Besides  these,  there  are  represented  in  the  German  colonies :  the  Trappists  with 
13  patres,  14  fratres,  22  sorores  (mission  house  at  Marianhill  in  Natal)  in  South 
Zanzibar,  and  the  Spanish  Capuchins  and  Augustinians  on  the  Caroline  and  Marianne 
islands,  who  will  presumably  be  soon  supplanted  by  Germans  of  the  same  Orders. 

2  In  1905 :  266  patres,  188  fratres,  and  200  sorores.  I  presume  that  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  non-German  agencies  is  also  increased  between  1902  and  19C5. 


1 68  APPENDIX    TO    PART    I 

mentioned  that  in  India  there  are  24  Bishops,  3  Apostolic  Prefects,  and 
above  2000  priests;  but  although  India  was  a  dependency  of  the  British 
Crown,  of  the  24  Bishops  only  one  (Archbishop  Colgan  of  Madras)  be- 
longed to  the  United  Kingdom,  while,  to  judge  from  the  names  of  the 
European  priests  in  India,  there  were  not  30  English  or  Irish  mission- 
aries. The  only  missionary  organisation  named  by  Father  Jackson  is  the 
St.  Joseph's  Foreign  Mission  Society  of  Mill  Hill,  founded  by  Cardinal 
Vaughan  in  the  early  days  of  his  priesthood,  who  "  spent  several  years 
begging  up  and  down  Europe  and  America  to  obtain  money  to  build  the 
College."  It  was  hoped  that  when  there  was  a  missionary  college  actually 
built,  crowds  of  English  and  Irish  youths  would  enter  as  candidates  for 
the  apostolic  priesthood.  The  hope  had  not  been  realized.  "  If  young 
men  had  not  come  to  it  from  the  Continent,  and  especially  from  Holland, 
it  would  have  been  closed  long  ago  for  want  of  students.  St.  Joseph's 
Society  has  done  and  is  still  doing  great  and  noble  work.  The  Holy  See 
has  confided  to  its  care  missions  in  the  Punjaub  and  Madras,  Borneo, 
New  Zealand,  Uganda,  and  the  Congo.  It  now  numbers  2  bishops  and 
124  priests,  but  of  that  number  only  42  are  English  or  Irish.  I  think 
nobody  will  say  that  forty-two  natives  of  the  United  Kingdom  is  a  great 
number  to  show  for  a  Society  which  has  existed  nearly  forty  years." 
Father  Jackson  says  that  the  prospects  are  brighter  at  present  as  the  pre- 
paratory St.  Peter's  College  at  Freshfield  is  becoming  better  known. 
This  Society  appears  to  be  the  only  Koman  Catholic  Foreign  Mission 
Agency  in  Great  Britain. 

AVith  regard  to  contributions  for  Foreign  Missions,  Father  Jackson 
says,  "  The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  and  the  Society  of 
the  Holy  Childhood  collect  for  all  the  foreign  missions  in  general,"  while 
the  "  St.  Joseph's  Society  has  authorised  collectors  in  many  parts  of  the 
country."  What  the  total  contributions  may  amount  to  is  not  indicated, 
but  is  characterised  as  "  very  small."  "  In  some  parts  of  the  conntry  our 
people  are  giving  regularly  and  generously,"  but  Father  Jackson  com- 

Idains  that  in  other  parts  of  the  country  nothing  whatever  is  given.  One 
arge  diocese  two  years  ago  gave  £1,  Is.  8d.,  and  last  year  nothing ; 
another  diocese,  with  more  than  a  hundred  churches  in  it,  contributed 
only  £5,  17s.  6d.— Ed.] 


PART  II 
THE  FIELD  OF  EVANGELICAL  MISSIONS 


108 


PART  II 
THE  FIELD  OF  EVANGELICAL  MISSIONS 

INTRODUCTION 

117.  Of  the  three  missionary  religious,  Buddhism,  Christi- 
anity, and  Mohammedanism,  Christianity  alone  is  in  earnest, 
in  theory  and  in  practice,  with  its  mission  to  the  world.  It 
is  so  in  theory,  for  on  the  ground  of  its  qualification  for  an 
universal  religion  it  expressly  defines  as  its  field  of  expansion 
"  all  the  nations,"  "  the  whole  world,"  "  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth,"  "all  men  everywhere"  (Matt,  xxviii.  19,  xxiv.  14, 
xxvi.  13 ;  Mk.  xiv.  9 ;  Luke  xxiv.  47 ;  Acts  i.  8,  xvii.  30,  31). 
It  is  so  in  practice,  for  it  is  actually  on  the  way  towards 
gradually  making  the  whole  world  its  mission  field.  Gradu- 
ally, we  say,  for  God's  method  of  education  has  in  its  wisdom 
distributed  the  Christianising  of  the  world  into  different  eras, 
by  spreading  the  time  of  missions  over  the  whole  present  age 
until  the  second  coming  of  Jesus.  The  time  of  missions  is 
divided  into  different  periods,  and  each  separate  period  has  its 
mission  field  opened  up,  as  well  as  bounded,  by  the  leadings 
of  the  world's  history.  Apostolic  and  sub-apostolic  missions 
were  virtually  limited  to  the  countries  of  the  Grseco-Eoman 
world  around  the  Mediterranean ;  the  missions  of  the  Middle 
Ages  were  confined  to  the  Germano-Slavonic  nations,  which  at 
that  time  were  beginning  to  step  into  the  centre  of  history. 
The  present  missionary  period  is  the  first  to  be  fully  in  earnest 
with  the  mission  to  the  whole  world.  Its  field  far  surpasses 
in  extent  those  of  the  previous  periods  put  together,  for  it 
stretches  over  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  There  are  still,  it  is 
true,  wide  regions,  especially  in  central  Asia  and  Africa,  not 
at  all  or  very  poorly  occupied  by  Christian  missions ;  but 
from  decade  to  decade  the  field  gains  so  much  in  extent,  that 
without  rhetorical  exaggeration  it  may  be  said,  "  The  field  is 
the  world." 

171 


172  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

118.  The  world-wide  extent  of  the  missions  of  to-day  is 
a  significant  fact,  even  in  an  apologetic  aspect.  Eighteen 
hundred  years  after  it  was  given,  the  command  of  Jesus  be- 
comes again  such  a  vital  force  in  Christendom  that  it  gives 
rise  to  a  mission  to  all  nations.  In  face  of  a  criticism  that 
seeks  to  deny  the  authenticity  of  that  command,  God  brings 
in  a  missionary  century  which  translates  it  into  deed.  A 
more  powerful  irony  upon  negative  criticism  there  could  not 
be.  At  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century  we  are  face  to 
face  with  the  fact  of  Christian  world-missions,  and  the  com- 
mission to  which  it  owes  its  existence  is  declared  never  to 
have  been  given  at  all !  The  words  of  Jesus  are  proved  true 
by  the  continuous  working  of  their  power.  And  if  this  work- 
ing after  nineteen  hundred  years  still  stirs  Christendom  into 
a  world  movement,  we  have  therein  a  Divine  criticism  to 
which  human  criticism  must  lay  down  its  arms.  The  words 
of  Jesus  may  be  pronounced  dead,  but  cannot  be  made 
dead ;  they  may  be  buried,  but  they  rise  again  from  the 
grave. 

119.  In  close  connection  with  the  activity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  recalling  the  words  of  Jesus,  there  have  gone,  and 
are  still  going  on,  openings  up  of  the  non-Christian  world, 
which  on  the  human  side  were  by  no  means  designed  to  open 
the  doors  for  the  spread  of  Christianity,  but  which  the  world- 
ruling  hand  of  God  has  made  to  serve  the  cause  of  missions ; 
just  as  in  the  apostolic  time  the  Jewish  dispersion,  the  spread 
of  the  Greek  language,  the  Eoman  world-dominion  and  com- 
mercial intercourse,  were  made  to  serve  it.  To-day  it  is 
specially  geographical  discoveries,  the  acquisition  of  colonial 
territory,  and  the  world  commerce,  facilitated  and  increased 
to  gigantic  proportions  by  modern  means  of  communication, 
that  have  led  the  missions  of  the  present  time  along  their 
paths,  and  have  influenced  the  choice  of  the  several  parts  of 
the  mission-field.  God  led  Christianity  to  understand  the 
missionary  significance  of  the  opening  up  of  the  world,  so 
that  it  not  only  became  an  impulse  to  obey  the  command 
"Go,"  but  also  showed  her  "Whither." 

120.  When  modern  missions  began,  there  was  no  plan  as 
to  where  a  beginning  should  be  made.  The  plan  was  made 
in  heaven,  and  men  followed  it  almost  without  knowing. 
Ilenection  came  afterwards.  The  missionaries  went  where  a 
way  was  open,  where  entrance  was  permitted  them  and 
receptivity  showed  itself.  Often,  especially  at  the  outset, 
Christian  colonies  were  chosen  as  mission  fields.  Often  the 
end  of  a  geographical  achievement  became  the  beginning  of 
a  missionary  undertaking      Repeatedly  political  transactions, 


INTRODUCTION  I 73 

agreements  of  peace  or  commercial  treaties,  have  given  the 
signal  for  beginning  a  mission. 

The  stage  of  civilisation  of  the  people  has  had  little 
influence  on  the  selection  of  the  mission  fields.  The  Divine 
leadings  guided  to  the  cultured  peoples  as  well  as  to  the  prim- 
itive peoples ;  and  so  it  has  come  to  pass  that  in  reference  to 
civilisation  the  missions  of  to-day  embrace  at  the  same  time 
objects  which  had  been  separately  assigned  to  the  apostolic 
and  the  mediaeval  missions.  Under  the  influence  of  these 
leadings,  the  part  of  the  present  mission  field  that  falls  to  the 
primitive  peoples  has  been  more  strongly  occupied  than  that 
falling  to  the  cultured  peoples.  In  India,  China,  and  Japan, 
there  may  be  altogether  about  2400  evangelical  mission- 
aries, for  a  population  of  over  700  million  non-Christians ; 
and,  apart  from  their  historical  significance,  this  is  a  small 
proportion  compared  with  the  4400  missionaries  for  the 
180  millions  of  heathen  in  the  lower  and  lowest  grades  of 
civilisation.  But  this  distribution  of  workers  is  providential  : 
the  peoples  poor  in  civilisation  have  shown  themselves  more 
accessible  and  more  fruitful  for  missions  than  those  rich  in 
civilisation ;  they  were  also  in  clanger  of  becoming  a  prey  to 
the  great  compact  religions,  if  their  Christianisation  were  not 
hastened.  In  Japan,  evangelical  missions  began  immediately 
on  the  opening  of  the  long-closed  land.  As  soon  as  there  is  a 
similar  change  in  China  in  its  attitude  towards  the  West,  the 
number  of  the  missionaries  there  will  at  once  increase.  A 
beginning  has  already  been  made.  And  when  the  old  religions 
in  India  give  way  more,  and  especially  when  the  resisting  force 
of  caste  is  more  broken,  mission  work  will  there  too  gain  an 
altogether  different  energy.  Besides,  in  the  civilised  lands 
the  number  of  workers  does  not  need  to  be  so  great  as  among 
the  uncivilised  peoples,  because  in  them  it  is  easier  to  get 
capable  and  independent  helpers  from  among  the  natives. 

Up  to  the  present  the  great  Mohammedan  world,  especially 
that  part  of  it  which  is  under  Mohammedan  governments,  has 
least  of  all  been  made  the  object  of  evangelical  missions. 
Religious  fanaticism,  the  volcanic  character  of  which  has 
been  anew  terribly  demonstrated  by  the  latest  massacres  of 
Christians  in  Armenia,  keeps  the  Mohammedan  world  almost 
entirely  closed  to  the  Gospel  of  Christ ;  and  it  is  an  unwise 
excess  of  zeal  to  seek  to  force  its  opening  before  the  time. 

The  mission  field  of  to-day  has  come  only  very  gradually 
to  its  present  world-wide  compass.  The  strengthening  of  the 
missionary  spirit  within  Christendom  and  the  progressive 
openings  of  the  non-Christian  world  have  in  the  course  of  a 
century  gradually  made  it  what  it  is.     We  cannot  meanwhile 


174  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

follow  this  process  chronologically,  because  this  method  would 
make  the  survey  of  the  mission  field  difficult,  and  would 
indeed  confuse  it  by  leading  us,  in  constant  change,  to  mission 
fields  far  removed  from  each  other.  We  shall  therefore  follow 
the  more  practical  course  of  arranging  our  survey  of  the 
gradual  extension  of  evangelical  missionary  activity  up  to 
its  present  position 1  according  to  the  geographical  point  of 
view. 

1  The  original  sources  arc  the  monthly  and  annual  reports  of  the  several 
missionary  societies  mentioned  by  name  in  the  First  Part.  The  references  to 
these  are  omitted  in  the  following  survey,  as  they  would  have  occupied  too 
much  space.  The  literature  cited  underneath  the  text  substantially  indicates 
the  relative  monographs. 

Among  works  giving  a  survey  of  the  whole  mission  field  of  the  present, 
which  are  mentioned  here  once  for  all  and  are  not  further  cited  in  the  foot- 
notes, the  following  should  be  mentioned  : — (1)  Wiggers,  Gesch.  der.  evang. 
Mission,  Hamburg  u.  Gotha,  1845.  Although  antiquated,  a  solid  work  based 
on  then  existing  sources.  (2)  Kalkar,  Gesch.  drr  christl.  Mission  unter  den 
Hcidcn,  Gutersloh,  1879.  The  only  history  of  missions  which  treats  also  of 
Roman  Catholic  missions.  A  rich  assemblage  of  matter,  but  critically  little 
sifted,  and  also  wanting  in  mastery  and  proportionate  division  of  the  matter. 
(3)  Burkhardt-Grundemann,  Khine  (4  vols.)  Miss.-Bibliothek,  2nd  edition, 
Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig,  1 S76-1SS1.  And  (4)  as  its  completion,  Grundemann,  Die 
Entw.  der  evang.  Mission  im  letzten  Jahrzehnt,  2nd  edition,  Bielefeld  u.  Leipzig, 
1890  ;  a  compendious  compilation  which  also  contains  much  geographical  and 
ethnological  matter,  as  well  as  matter  connected  with  the  history  of  religion 
and  natural  science.  (5)  Christlieb,  Der  gegenwartige  Stand  der  evang.  Heidert- 
mission,  Gutersloh,  1880.  And  as  its  complement,  (6)  Vahl,  Der  Stand  der 
evang.  Hcidenmission  in  den  Jahren  1845  und  1890,  Gutersloh,  1892.  Good 
instructive  surveys  :  that  of  Christlieb  fresh  and  sappy,  that  of  Vahl  somewhat 
dry,  but  furnished  with  valuable  statistical  tables,  which  the  well-informed 
Danish  author  continued  in  the  purely  statistical  Missions  to  the  Heathen 
which  he  published  annually.  His  brief  (151  pp.)  Laerchog  i  den  evangeliske 
Missionshistorie,  published  in  Copenhagen  in  1897,  lias  not  been  translated 
into  German.  It  is  concise  and  trustworthy.  (7)  Zahn,  Der  Acker  ist  die 
Welt:  Blicke  in  das  Arbeitsfeld  der  evang.  Mission,  Gutersloh,  1888.  Not  so 
much  history,  as  able  expositions  of  the  history  of  missions  on  the  part  of  a 
competent  judge  of  missions,  but  with  much  historical  matter.  (8)  Gundert, 
Die  evang.  Mission,  ihre  Lander,  Vblker,  und  Arbeiten,  3  Aufl.,  Calw,  1894. 
The  most  trustworthy  book  of  reference,  presenting  with  great  precision  and 
almost  without  an  omission  all  that  deserves  to  be  known  regarding  the  fields 
of  evangelical  missions  and  the  present  state  of  missions.  (9)  Grundemann, 
Kleine  Mis  -.ions-Geograpliie  u.  Statistik  zur  Darstell'U/ng  des  Standes  tin-  evang. 
Mission  am  Schlusse  des  19  Jahrhunderts,  Calw  u.  Stuttgart,  1901.  An  admir- 
able compact  survey :  unhappily,  in  the  endeavour  to  make  absolutely  sure  of 
not  exceeding  minimum  numbers,  the  statistical  statements  in  many  fields  are 
too  low.  The  indispensable  geographical  complement  is  (10)  Grundemann, 
Neuer  Missionsatlas,  Calw,  2nd  ed.,  1903. 

Out  of  English  missionary  literature  the  following  works  arc  to  be  named, 
which,  however,  as  a  whole  are  inferior  to  the  German  in  thoroughness  and 
trustworthiness  : — (1)  Brown,  The  History  of  Christian  Missions  of  the  Sixteenth 
to  Nineteenth  Centuries,  3  vols.,  London,  1861.  A  compilation  of  material  that 
is  neither  complete  nor  adequately  sifted ;  more  a  chronicle  than  a  history. 
(2)  George  Smith,  Short  History  of  Christian  Missions  from  Abraham  and  Paii  ' 
to  Carey,  Livingstone,  and  Duff,  5th  edition,  Edinburgh,  1897.  Gives  only  a 
scanty  survey,  which  besides  is  not  without  inaccuracies  and  rhetorical 
exaggerations.  (3)  Dennis,  Foreign  Missions  after  a  Century,  3rd  edition,  New 
York,  1893.     Neither  a  history  of  missions  nor  a  survey  of  their  present  con- 


INTRODUCTION  175 

ilition,  but  a  kind  of  philosophy  of  the  history  of  missions,  with  many  good 
thoughts,  but  not  always  free  from  rhetoric.  (4)  Graham,  The  Missionary 
Expansion  of  the  Reformed  Churches,  Edinburgh,  1898.  The  best  among  short 
and  popular  English  histories  of  missions,  but  including  at  the  same  time 
many  errors,  and  exhibiting  great  gaps  :  in  particular,  the  German  missions 
are  very  scantily  treated. 

Finally,  there  must  also  be  mentioned  the  Evang.  Missions- Magazin  (from 
1816)  and  the  Allg.  Missions-Zeitschrift  (from  1874),  both  of  which  may  be 
described  as  encyclopaedias  of  missions.  Especially  their  "Look-rounds" 
(Rundschauen)  give  current  surveys  of  the  progress  of  missionary  work.  The 
Missionary  Review  of  the  World  (from  1888),  published  in  New  York,  and 
often  very  rhetorical,  is  inferior  to  both  these  magazines,  and  is  a  source  which 
must  only  be  used  with  critical  carefulness.  The  later  years  are,  however,  much 
more  solid  than  the  earlier.  On  the  other  hand,  Bliss,  in  his  voluminous 
Encyclopaedia  of  Missions  (2  vols,  of  over  1300  pp.,  New  York,  1891),  presents 
a  mass  of  matter,  not  altogether  free  from  gaps,  but  very  rich  and  relatively 
reliable.  A  second  edition,  condensed  into  one  volume,  is  in  preparation.  [It 
has  now  been  published.]  The  well-edited  Nordisk  Misslonstidsskrift  (from 
1890)  furnishes  many  valuable  gleanings  for  the  general  history  of  missions. 
[In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  English  missionary  works  mentioned  in  this  Note 
are  so  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  use  made  of  them  by  the  author,  it 
would  clearly  be  out  of  place  to  name  others  which  might  otherwise  have  been 
added  to  the  list.  An  excellent  bibliography  will  be  found  in  the  appendix  to  the 
second  volume  of  the  Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference,  New  York,  1900. — Ed.  J 


CHAPTER    I 
AMEKICA 

Section  1.  Greenland,  Labrador,  and  Alaska 

121.  We  begin  our  survey  with  America.  Greenland,  the 
largest  island  in  the  world,  quite  four  times  as  large  as  the 
German  Empire,  but  inhabited  almost  exclusively  on  the 
indented  west  coast  by  a  scanty  population,  was  colonised  from 
the  eleventh  to  the  fourteenth  century  by  Norsemen  from 
Iceland.  Although  the  colonists  were  already  Christians, 
and  formed  a  bishopric  of  their  own,  they  exercised  no 
Christianising  influence  upon  the  native  Eskimo.  Since  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Norse  colony  has  disappeared,  probably 
wiped  out  by  the  ill-treated  Eskimo,  and  only  old  ruins  of 
churches  testify  that  once  Christianity  was  known.  When, 
two  and  a  half  centuries  later,  the  memory  of  the  old  settlers 
was  revived  in  Scandinavia,  and  new  attempts  were  made 
to  enter  into  commercial  relations  with  Greenland,  the  Nor- 
wegian pastor,  Hans  Egede,  in  the  Lofoden  Islands,  was  seized 
with  a  mighty  impulse  to  care  for  the  people  of  that  land,  who 
were  treated  with  inhumanity  by  the  sailors,  and  among  whom 
he  believed  he  could  still  detect  some  of  the  neglected  posterity 
of  the  old  Norsemen.  With  energetic  persistency  that  brave 
man  overcame  all  the  obstacles  that  stood  in  his  way,  and  at 
last,  in  1721,  obtained  permission  to  begin  a  mission  in  Green- 
land from  King  Frederick  iv.  of  Denmark,  under  whose  rule 
Norway  at  that  time  was.  Even  a  royal  grant  was  guaranteed 
for  its  support.  But  the  greatest  difficulties  accrued  in  Green- 
land itself — the  inhospitable  climate,  frequent  scarcity  of  food, 
the  distrust  and  dulness  of  the  natives,  the  enmity  of  their 
magicians,  the  unknown  language  so  hard  to  learn,  the  coarse 
conduct  of  the  Europeans  in  the  service  of  the  commercial 
company  which  was  joined  to  the  mission ;  and  it  required 
untold  patience,  amid  all  the  discouragements  which  followed 
one  after  another,  to  continue  during  fifteen  years  to  labour  on 
this  hard  soil  with  unyielding  faithfulness.     When,  in  173G, 

ire 


AMERICA  177 

Egede  left  Greenland,  he  had  rendered  the  great  service  of 
making  the  first  investigation  of  the  language,  and  had  gained 
some  native  helpers,  but  otherwise  had  attained  little  visible 
result,  so  that  he  preached  his  farewell  sermon  on  the  text, 
Isaiah  xlix.  4.  On  his  return  home  he  conducted  a  seminary 
for  the  training  of  preachers  for  Greenland,  and  produced  trans- 
lations, while  his  son  Paul  continued  his  father's  work  among 
the  Eskimo.  Since  then  the  Danish  Mission  in  Greenland  has 
held  on  its  way,  though  much  hindered  by  its  association  with 
trade  and  colonisation,  and  also  by  the  Mission  Bureau  of  the 
State,  to  which  it  was  subject.  Often  incapable  preachers 
were  sent  out,  and  even  the  better  men  remained  as  a  rule  but 
a  short  time.  Since  the  Danish  Missionary  Society,  at  a  later 
date,  took  up  the  work,  there  has  been  a  great  improvement. 
Especially  has  great  attention  been  given  to  the  education  of 
native  catechists,  some  of  whom  have  even  been  ordained. 
There  are  thirteen  Danish  trading  stations,  divided  into  two 
inspectorates,  a  northern  and  a  southern,  and  of  these  ten  are 
also  mission  stations ;  and  the  whole  population  around  them, 
numbering  about  8200  souls,  and  consisting  partly  of  half- 
breeds,  has  been  long  since  Christianised.  Since  1894  there 
has  also  been  a  Danish  mission  station  among  the  people  of 
East  Greenland,  who  are  still  heathen  (Angmagsalik). 

122.  Much  better  known  than  the  Danish,  although  not  so 
extensive,  is  the  Moravian  Mission  in  Greenland,  which  was 
begun  in  1733  by  Matthew  Stach  from  Herrnhut.  It  was 
connected  with  Copenhagen  through  Count  Zinzendorf,  and, 
like  the  Danish,  was  undertaken  with  the  approval  of  the 
Danish  king,  but  without  dependence  upon  the  State  govern- 
ment. The  beginning  of  this  mission,  too,  was  trying  and 
difficult,  and  many  things  combined  to  discourage  the  Brethren. 
A  proper  understanding  was  never  effected  with  Egede ;  the 
learning  of  the  language  caused  the  unschooled  Moravian 
missionaries  unspeakable  trouble,  and  an  imported  epidemic  of 
smallpox  caused  great  mortality  among  the  natives;  and,  in 
addition  to  the  other  adversities  that  were  due  to  the  wildness 
of  the  country,  there  came  a  famine,  in  consequence  of  imperfect 
provisioning  from  Copenhagen,  during  which  the  Greenlanders 
showed  great  hardness  of  heart.  They  wished  to  know  nothing 
of  the  message  which  the  Brethren  brought  with  them;  they 
scoffed  at  them,  and  even  sought  their  life.  In  this  way 
passed  five  years  of  fruitless  labour,  till  John  Beck  experienced 
the  joy  of  seeing  the  story  of  the  sufferings  of  Jesus  making 
for  the  first  time  an  impression  on  their  dull  natures,  and  the 
well-known  Kayarnack  cried  out  with  quivering  voice :  "  How 
was  that  ? — Tell  it  me  once  again.  I  too  would  be  saved." 
12 


178  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

He  was  the  first-fruits  among  the  Greenlanders,  and  after  long 
preparation  the  Brethren  baptized  him  in  1739  along  with  his 
whole  house ;  in  spite  of  the  persecution  that  arose  at  first,  the 
ice  was  now  broken.  For  twenty  years  the  work  centred 
mainly  around  the  first  station,  New  Hermhut,  and  then 
four  stations  more  were  laid  down  one  after  another  to  the 
south  of  it,  and  a  fifth  was  founded  to  the  north-east  and  near 
to  New  Herrnhut.  These  stations  have  to-day  over  1600 
Eskimo  Christians,  often,  it  is  true,  widely  separated  from  each 
other.  Within  their  territory  the  work  of  Christianisation  has 
long  since  been  completed,  so  that  the  proper  missionary 
activity  has  passed  entirely  into  the  pastoral.  Only  on  the 
almost  inaccessible  east  coast  are  there  still  isolated  heathen 
Eskimo,  some  of  whom  are  ever  and  again  being  baptized  on 
the  occasion  of  visits  to  the  most  southerly  station  of  the 
Brethren.  The  New  Testament  and  a  large  part  of  the  Old 
have  been  translated  into  the  Eskimo  language,  and  the 
church  life  is  well  ordered.  Although  heathenism  has  been 
vanquished,  the  Christianity  of  the  Eskimo  is  still  very 
rudimentary,  and  with  the  majority  full  of  shadows.  Bright 
lights  appear  only  occasionally.  The  missionary  aim,  the 
erection  of  an  independent  church  of  Greenland,  which  should 
support  itself  by  its  own  means  and  be  governed  by  a  native 
pastorate,  has  not  been  attained  either  by  the  Danish  or  by  the 
Moravian  Mission,  and  will  probably  never  be  attained.  The 
blame  lies  not  merely  in  this,  that  from  the  beginning  the  work 
has  been  but  little  directed  towards  this  end,  but  chiefly  in  the 
inhospitable  conditions  of  the  country,  which  by  the  anxiety 
they  create  about  eking  out  the  natural  life  by  uncertain  and 
poor  earnings,  hinder  a  higher  development  and  exert  a 
depressing  influence  on  the  character  of  the  Eskimo,  who  are 
in  any  case  intellectually  poorly  endowed.  There  are,  indeed, 
some  energetic  native  helpers,  but  they  are  not  ripe  for  in- 
dependent church  leadership.  In  accordance  with  a  decision 
of  their  General  Synod  in  1899,  the  Moravians  in  the  following 
year  handed  over  all  their  stations  there  to  the  Danish  Church, 
because  they  regarded  their  strictly  missionary  task  in  Green- 
land as  fulfilled.  The  Danish  Church  has  now  under  its  care 
the  total  number  of  Christians  there,  about  10,300  souls. 

123.  Similar  to  the  conditions  in  Greenland  are  those  in 
the  still  colder  peninsula  of  Labrador,  of  which,  indeed,  only 
the  outmost  coast-line  is  inhabited  by  Eskimo,  and  likewise 
occupied  by  the  mission.  So  early  as  1752  the  Moravians  had 
attempted  a  settlement  here,  which  came  to  nought  through  the 
murder  of  the  missionary.  The  first  station,  Nain,  was  founded 
in  1771,  and  soon  two  others  (Okak  and  Hopedale)  were  added. 


AMERICA  179 

But  it  was  in  1804  that,  in  consequence  of  a  general  awaken- 
ing, the  Gospel  first  found  an  extended  entrance  among  the 
degraded  population.  Gradually  three  stations  more  were  estab- 
lished ;  and  to-day,  of  the  population  numbering  only  some 
1500  souls,  1300  are  Christians.  These  are  cared  for  spiritually 
with  great  diligence  and  faithfulness,  and  their  religious  life 
stands  higher  than  that  of  their  Greenland  compatriots.  From 
long  ago  the  mission  here  has  been  combined  with  trade.  This 
is  in  the  hands  of  a  Moravian  company  in  England,  which  for 
this  purpose  maintains  a  special  ship,  the  Harmony.1  This 
missionary  trading  has  the  advantage  of  guarding  the  natives 
from  becoming  the  prey  of  unchristian  traders,  but  it  has  also 
the  bad  result  of  making  the  careless  Eskimo  often  very  ill 
behaved  towards  their  benefactors.  The  numerous  American 
fishermen  who  live  on  the  coast  during  the  summer,  and  of  whom 
many  have  settled  on  it,  are  also  an  object  of  the  spiritual  care 
of  the  Moravian  missionaries,  who  are  energetically  supported 
in  this  work  by  the  English  Deep  Sea  Fishermen's  Mission. 

124  From  Labrador  we  take  a  leap  over  to  the  great 
north-western  peninsula  of  the  North  American  continent, 
bounded  by  the  Behring  Straits,  the  now  much-talked-of 
Alaska,2  because  we  find  here  again  a  considerable  Eskimo 
population  (10,000)  and  almost  2000  Aleutians,  with  a  strong 
admixture  of  Indians  (13,700),  in  addition  to  more  than  2000 
Chinese  and  a  now  rapidly  increasing  number  of  white  im- 
migrants and  half-breeds.  Since  1867  this  huge  territory, 
covering  about  577,390  square  miles,  has  been  the  property  of 
the  United  States,  which  bought  it  from  Bussia  for  £1,450,000 
($6,960,000).  A  Greek  Catholic  mission  continues  from  Bussian 
times,  which  counts  11,000  adherents,  mostly  Aleutians  and 
Eskimo,  who  have,  however,  only  in  the  most  external  fashion 
been  made  nominal  Christians.  The  climatic  conditions  are  in 
a  great  part  of  the  land  similar  to  those  of  Greenland  and 
Labrador ;  the  economic  conditions  are  much  better,  especially 
on  the  coast,  but  also  inland,  where  there  are  woods  and 
water.  The  pursuit  of  fur  animals  is  very  profitable,  and  there 
is  great  wealth  01  mineral  treasures.  Becently  the  discoveries  of 
gold  on  the  Yukon  Biver  (Klondyke)  have  enticed  a  wild  host 
of  adventurers  into  this  icy  land,  who,  it  is  to  be  feared,  will 
corrupt  the  native  population  even  more  than  the  white  im- 
migrants have  hitherto  done.     Evangelical  missions  are  here  of 

1  [For  130  years  ships  bearing  this  name  made  the  annual  voyage  to  that 
inclement  coast  without  any  disaster.  In  1900,  for  the  first  time  the  ordinary 
channels  of  traffic  had  so  extended  as  to  meet  provisionally  the  needs  of  the 
mission.     Since  then  the  sailing  of  a  special  ship  has  been  resumed. — Ed.] 

•  Afiss.  Rev.,  1903,  p.  497  :   "What  Missionaries  have  done  for  Alaska." 


180  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

still  recent  date,  having  been  begun  in  1877,  when  the  first 
station  was  established  at  Fort  Wrangel  by  the  Northern 
Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  under  Dr.  Jackson, 
who  is  now  in  the  service  of  the  Government  as  general 
inspector  of  schools,  and  labours  untiringly  for  the  good  of  the 
country.  Gradually  the  mission  has  grown  to  ten  stations,  of 
which  Point  Barrow,  next  to  the  Danish  Uperniwik  in  Green- 
land, is  the  most  northern  in  the  world,  and  Sitka,  the  capital 
of  the  territory  (in  the  south-eastern  part)  is  the  most  impor- 
tant, and  through  its  industrial  school  the  most  influential 
for  civilisation.  The  total  number  of  Christians  belonging  to 
the  Presbyterian  mission  is  about  3000  (1100  com.).  Stirred 
by  the  Presbyterians,  the  American  branch  of  the  Moravians 
began  in  1885,  in  the  south-west  of  the  country,  particularly 
among  the  Eskimo  population,  a  mission  which  has  now  three 
stations  (Bethel  on  the  estuary  of  the  Kuskokwim  being  the 
central  one),  and  which  through  the  self-sacrificing  labour  of 
courageous  missionaries  flourishes  hopefully,  and  has  over  950 
Christians.  Of  the  seven  remaining  missions,  all  proceeding 
from  North  America,  which  since  1886  have  been  undertaken 
in  Alaska,  the  most  extensive  is  that  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  with  its  numerous  stations  (2500  Christians), 
its  centre  of  gravity  lying  in  the  mighty  river  basin  of  the 
Yukon ;  the  most  original,  especially  on  account  of  its  com- 
bination with  the  work  of  civilisation,  is  that  of  the  independent 
missionary,  Mr.  Duncan,  who,  after  his  separation  from  the 
English  Church  Mission,  migrated  in  1887  from  Metlakahtla 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  Indians  of  the  place  to  Annetta 
Island,  and  there  founded  a  new  Metlakahtla,  numbering  now 
about  1000  Christians.  All  the  evangelical  missions  in  Alaska 
together  have  at  present  about  9000  Christians  under  their 
care,  a  considerable  result  when  one  remembers  the  difficulty 
of  the  field  of  labour  and  the  shortness  of  the  time.  For  the 
work  among  the  gold-seeking  white  adventurers,  in  addition 
to  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  quite  a  number  of  church 
communions  in  North  America  have  promptly  girded  them- 
selves. 

Section  2.  British  North  America 

125.  We  come  now  to  British  North  America,  or  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  the  immense  territory  which  embraces 
all  the  land  north  of  the  United  States,  with  the  exception 
of  Alaska,  to  the  Arctic  Sea  on  the  north,  the  Atlantic  Ocean 
on  the  east,  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  on  the  west,  a  space  quite 
fifteen  times  as  large  as  the  German  Empire.     The  5^  millions 


AMERICA  l8l 

of  colonists  who  inhabit  it  live  chiefly  on  its  southern  part, 
traversed  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Eailway,  while  in  the  forts 
and  factories  scattered  throughout  the  whole  territory  there 
is  but  a  sparse  white  population.  Still  it  presses  ceaselessly 
northwards,  as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  soil  makes  settlement 
profitable.  The  natives,  with  the  exception  of  some  thousand 
Eskimo  in  the  north,  are  composed  of  various  tribes  of  Indians, 
who  are  believed  to  number  119,000  (of  whom  99,500  are  full 
blooded,  and  19,500  are  half-bred  Indians),  of  whom  some  70,000 
dwell  in  reservations  allotted  to  them  by  the  Government. 
These  have  for  the  most  part  become  agriculturists,  but  the 
increase  of  colonisation  threatens  to  reduce  them  to  prole- 
tairism. 

It  is  only  remnants  of  the  old  Indian  population  that  are 
now  met  with  here  and  in  the  United  States.  It  will  never 
be  definitely  ascertained  how  large  their  number  was  before  the 
white  immigration.  In  any  case  it  has  been  much  reduced  by 
the  ceaseless  wars  which  they  have  waged  with  each  other  and 
in  which  they  have  been  involved  by  the  whites,  by  the  reck- 
less treatment  they  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the  self- 
seeking  immigrants,  and  by  the  destruction  which  brandy  has 
wrought  among  them.  Never,  however,  have  the  Indians  been 
such  noble  men  as  the  well-known  fiction  of  Seume  depicts  for 
us  in  the  Canadian  unacquainted  with  the  superficial  polite- 
ness of  Europe,  although  in  their  character  certain  chivalrous 
features  wer~  found  in  which  romantic  fiction  had  some 
support.  But  that  is  true  only  of  the  full-blooded  Indians, 
not  of  the  numerous  half-breeds,  who  as  a  rule  combine  in 
themselves  the  vices  of  both  races.  The  religion  of  the  Indians 
too  has  been  much  idealised.  Their  belief  in  the  Great  Spirit 
takes  a  very  subordinate  place  beside  the  worship  of  wild 
beasts  and  demons,  and  has  had  no  power  to  break  the  curse  of 
witchcraft  which  enthrals  them  so  terribly.  What  has  made 
and  still  makes  the  mission  among  them  so  difficult,  in  addition 
to  their  hatred  of  their  white  oppressors,  is  their  wild  intract- 
ableness,  their  revengefulness,  their  unsettled  nomadic  life, 
their  dispersion  over  immense  distances,  and  their  complicated 
polysynthetic  or  agglutinative  language,  divided  into  many 
dialects,  which  by  reason  of  its  insertions  and  endless  append- 
ages is  a  real  cross  to  the  missionaries.  Of  the  numerous  tribes 
of  Indians  in  Canada,  the  most  important  are,  in  the  east,  the 
Algonquins,  with  the  Crees  and  Ojibwas,  or  Sotos ;  on  the  Great 
Lakes,  the  Hurons  and  Iroquois ;  in  the  west  and  north,  the 
Tukuds  [or  Loucheux  Indians]  and  the  Athabascans. 

126.  The  Canada  proper  of  to-day  was  formerly  a  French 
colony.  From  1608  there  was  an  always  increasing  French  immi- 


1 82  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

gration  and  occupation  of  territory,  with  which  there  went 
hand  in  hand  an  energetic  though  very  external  conversion  to 
Catholicism,  chiefly  on  the  part  of  the  Jesuits.  Colonisers  and 
missionaries  worked  into  each  others'  hands,  and  since  the 
immigrants  for  a  long  time  consisted  only  of  French  people,  the 
colony  became  Catholic  and  was  almost  entirely  dominated  by 
the  Jesuits.  Even  to-day  the  Catholic  element  predominates, 
although  numerically  it  has  been  overtaken  by  the  Protestant. 
There  are  some  2\  millions  of  Catholics  as  against  3  millions 
of  Protestants,1  who  are  weakened,  however,  by  their  denomina- 
tional divisions. 

While  the  French  occupied  chiefly  the  south  and  south-east 
part  of  the  land,  the  English  found  a  footing  in  the  north-east 
on  the  vast  Hudson's  Bay,  named  after  its  discoverer  (1610),  the 
hinterland  of  which  was  called  Hudsonia,and  afterwards  Rupert's 
Land.  Soon  a  trading  company,  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company, 
was  formed,  with  privileges  granted  by  Charles  II.,  in  1669, 
which  extended  its  rule  ever  farther  to  the  west.  This  com- 
pany had  not  the  remotest  thought  of  Christianisation ;  indeed, 
later  they  took  a  very  hostile  stand  against  it,  because  they 
thought  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  their  territory 
would  injure  their  profitable  trade.  Even  their  officials  they  left 
for  a  long  time  without  any  spiritual  care.  It  was  a  dogma  of 
these  merchants,  that  the  Indian  was  not  capable  of  civilisation, 
and  was  only  to  be  treated  and  made  use  of  as  a  slave  or  animal. 

In  1763,  England  conquered  French  Canada,  and  in  1869 
the  English  crown  acquired  also  the  Hudson's  Bay  territory,  so 
that  now  the  whole  of  America  lying  north  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  exception  of  Alaska,  is  a  British  colony  under 
the  name  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  though  it  is  only  loosely 
connected  with  the  mother  country.  Politically  it  is  divided 
into  Canada,  Hudsonia,  and  British  Columbia,  each  of  which 
falls  again  into  various  provinces. 

Since  the  political  conditions  have  been  consolidated,  the 
treatment  of  the  Indians  in  British  North  America  has  become 
much  more  humane  than  formerly,  and  their  condition  is  much 
better  than  it  is  in  the  United  States. 

127.  Evangelical  missions  began  first  in  the  present  Dom- 
inion of  Canada  in  1820,  and  it  was  a  chaplain  of  the  Hudson's 
Bay  Company,  John  West,  who  gave  the  impulse  to  it.  After 
he  himself  in  his  long  journeys  had,  with  self-sacrificing  zeal, 
interested  himself  in  the  Indians,  and  had  educated  several 
Tndian  boys,  of  whom  two,  Henry  Budd  and  James  Settee,  after- 
wards rendered  eminent  service  as  ordained  missionaries  among 
their  countrymen,  lie  induced  the  Church  Missionary  Society 

1  The  census  of  1901  gives  2,228,997  Catholics  and  3,112,051  I'  rotes  tan  to. 


AMERICA  183 

to  set  on  foot  an  Indian  mission,  which  in  the  course  of  80  years 
has  extended  enormously,  and  stretches  from  Lake  Superior 
in  the  south-east  to  Herschell  Island  on  the  borders  of  Alaska 
in  the  north-west  (70°  N.)  of  Canada. 

Of  the  two  first  missionaries  of  the  society,  to  Cockran, 
who  spent  43  years  in  the  service,  belongs  the  importance 
attaching  to  a  pioneer.  After  overcoming  great  difficulties,  he 
established  in  the  years  1831-33  the  first  Indian  settlement  on 
the  Eed  Eiver,  a  little  northward  of  the  present  Winnipeg,  in 
which  he  combined  with  missionary  activity  a  successful  work 
of  civilisation.  When  Smith,  the  missionary,  visited  it  in 
1840,  he  could  testify  that  he  could  find  as  good  peasants  and 
workmen  as  in  England.  It  has  now  grown  to  be  an  in- 
dependent Indian  community,  well  ordered  and  economically 
flourishing,  with  more  than  1100  members,  under  the  care  of 
a  native  pastor.  In  1840  a  similar  settlement  was  founded  in 
Cumberland,  on  the  north-west  of  Lake  Winnipeg,  by  Henry 
Budd,  who  has  been  already  mentioned,  and  in  1872  there 
was  no  longer  a  single  heathen  in  the  place.  Up  to  1857  quite 
a  number  of  stations  came  into  being  on  the  Saskatchewan 
Eiver,  on  Moose  Lake,  between  Manitoba  Lake  and  Winnipeg 
Lake,  and  on  the  Assiniboine  and  the  English  Eivers,  and  all 
of  them  developed  hopefully.  In  1849  the  diocese  of  Eupert's 
Land  was  constituted,  with  Dr.  Anderson  as  the  first  bishop. 
That  gigantic  diocese,  which  stretched  from  Eed  Eiver  to 
Moose  Fort  on  Hudson's  Bay,  was  in  1872  divided  into  four 
still  large  dioceses,  and  in  1884, 1887,  and  1892  five  more  were 
erected  in  Hudsonia,  so  that  the  ecclesiastical  organisation  of 
North-West  Canada  may  probably  be  regarded  as  complete. 
We  shall  go  through  the  extensive  Canadian  mission  field  as 
far  as  possible  in  geographical  order. 

128.  We  may  pass  over  Lower  Canada  (Quebec)  as  well 
as  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  and  Prince  Edward  Island, 
since  in  these  the  Christianising  of  the  Indians  is  almost 
accomplished.  With  the  exception  of  about  600,  they  belong 
wholly  (14,000,  including  half-breeds)  to  the  Eomish  Church, 
and  the  small  heathen  remnant  will  soon  be  assimilated.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  Upper  Canada  (Ontario),  of  some  21,000  Indians, 
there  are  more  Protestant  (10,800)  than  Catholic  (6500), 
The  work  among  the  Indians  here  is  no  longer  of  a  mis- 
sionary but  of  a  pastoral  character,  and  is  partly  in  the 
hands  of  capable  native  pastors.  The  congregations  are  incor- 
porated respectively  in  the  colonial  churches.  Careful  attention 
is  given  both  by  the  Anglicans  and  by  the  Methodists,  who 
carry  on  work  here  beside  them,  to  the  different  educational 
institutions,  including  industrial  schools.     New  Fairfield,  the 


184  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

little  Moravian  station  north-west  of  Lake  Erie,  merits  special 
mention,  not  merely  because  it  is  the  oldest  in  the  whole 
district,  but  on  account  of  the  fascinating  history  which  led 
to  its  founding.  It  was  here  that  the  Christian  Delawares, 
the  fruit  of  the  labour  of  Zeisberger,  cruelly  persecuted  in 
repeated  wars  and  driven  hither  and  thither,  were  settled,  for 
the  first  time  in  1794,  for  the  second  time  in  1815.  In 
1903  the  station,  at  which  there  was  no  more  missionary 
work  to  be  done,  was  handed  over  to  the  Canadian  Methodist 
Church. 

The  Canadian  mission  field  proper  begins  with  the  diocese 
of  Eupert's  Land ;  only,  the  independent  Indian  congregations 
of  old  standing  on  the  Eed  Eiver  (2500  Christians)  are  already 
incorporated  with  the  colonial  church.1  The  mission  diocese, 
in  which  also  Canadian  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  labour 
with  success,  numbers  6  Anglican  stations,  with  2400  Indiau 
Christians,  among  them  St.  Peter  and  Fairford,  with  each  over 
1000.  Besides  Cockran,  another  missionary,  Cowley,  whose 
period  of  service  likewise  extended  over  40  years,  laboured 
here  with  marked  success.  A  college  connected  with  the 
Church  of  England  and  a  higher  school  for  boys  and  girls 
provide  a  solid  education. 

On  the  east  and  north  Eupert's  Land  touches  the  diocese 
of  Moosonee,  which  lies  around  Hudson's  Bay,  with  a  widely 
scattered  population  of  only  10,000  souls,  the  itineracy  of 
which  is  attended  with  unspeakable  hardship  and  danger.  It 
has  now  7  stations,  with  2400  Christians,  of  whom  the  majority 
are  very  isolated.  The  most  distinguished  of  the  missionaries 
of  this  great  district  is  Horden,2  who  was  promoted  from 
schoolmaster  to  bishop,  a  man  who  has  laboured  unceasingly 
during  42  years  among  four  tribes  with  different  languages  as 
itinerant  preacher  and  visitor,  while  he  was  also  engaged  in 
literary  work.  The  Cree  tribe  of  Indians  especially  has  been 
almost  wholly  Christianised  by  him.  Towards  this  result  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Cree  language  gave  material 
aid.  It  is  in  the  syllabic  writing  invented  so  long  ago  as  1840 
by  the  Methodist  missionary  Evans,  and  now  universally  used. 
The  Ojibwas  too  are  almost  wholly  Christianised,  chiefly  by 
two  preachers  of  their  own  race,  who  have  also  given  them  a 
literature.  The  Keewatin  diocese,  a  branch  of  the  Moosonee, 
which  lies  round  the  west  and  south-west  of  Hudson's  Bay, 
has  9  stations,  of  which  Churchill  is  at  present  by  far  the  most 

1  Regarding  this  church,  seo  C.  M.  Intelligencer,  1898,  p.  58. 

'  Bally,  Forty -two  Years  amongst  the  Indians  and  Eskimo.  Pictures  from 
the  Life  of  John  Horden,  London,  1893.  E.  R.  Young,  Stories  from  Indian 
Wigwams  and  Northern  Camp-fires,  London,  1893. 


AMERICA  185 

advanced  post  towards  the  north,  and  is  a  centre  of  mission 
work  reaching  out  among  the  Eskimo.  The  number  of  Chris- 
tians in  this  diocese  is  about  2400. 

To  the  west  Rupert's  Land  is  bounded  by  the  comparatively 
small  diocese  of  Qu'Appelle,  which  was  divided  off  first  of  all 
in  1884,  and  is  still  in  the  main  a  field  for  itinerant  preaching. 
It  has  only  one  settled  station  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  but  also  other 
two  which  are  under  the  S.  P.  G. 

North  of  it  lies  Saskatchewan,  the  scene  of  the  far-reaching 
activity  of  Henry  Budd.  Its  9  stations  are  for  the  greater 
part  on  the  river  which  gives  the  diocese  its  name.  When 
the  Catholic  half-breeds  here  rebelled  in  1885,  under  the  well- 
known  leader  Kiel,  the  Protestant  Indians  stood  faithful  to 
the  Government. 

West  of  these  two  dioceses  lies  Calgary  with  4,  and  north 
or  north-west,  Athabasca  with  7  stations.  The  Christians  in 
these  three  dioceses  number  4500.  The  work  here  is  hindered 
by  a  spiteful  Roman  counter-mission.  This  evil  is  also  much 
felt  in  the  large  and  inhospitable  diocese  of  Mackenzie  River, 
which  borders  on  the  north  of  Athabasca  and  extends  to  the 
Arctic  Sea,  where  Herschel  island  forms  its  most  distant  post. 
From  its  7  stations,  lying  on  the  river  of  the  same  name  and 
connected  with  the  fcrts  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  (1900 
Christians),  there  proceeds  far  and  wide  an  effective  missionary 
and  civilising  influence,  which  is  always  being  extended  by 
active  itineracy,  difficult  though  that  is,  and  hindered  by  the 
differences  of  language.  Notably  Macdonald  and  Bompas  have 
in  this  way  rendered  heroic  service. 

The  extreme  north-west  diocese  in  Hudsonia  is  Selkirk, 
which  reaches  to  the  borders  of  Alaska.  It  has  now  4  stations 
in  course  of  hopeful  development,  with  500  Christian  Indians, 
among  whom  the  Tukud  sept  are  almost  entirely  Christianised. 

As  already  remarked,  the  Canadian  Methodists  have  17 
stations  scattered  through  Hudsonia,  with  some  15,000  Chris- 
tians; and  the  Presbyterians  17,  with  1000  Christians.  On 
the  part  of  the  latter  there  has  also  been  a  careful  attention 
to  industrial  work,  which  has  been  blessed  with  increasing 
success.  How  great  may  be  the  number  of  native  Christians 
in  the  Dominion  in  connection  with  the  S.  P.  G.  cannot  be 
accurately  ascertained  from  its  reports.  Altogether  the  number 
of  native  Christians  (Indians  and  Eskimo)  under  the  care  of 
the  evangelical  missions  in  the  Hudsonia  province  of  British 
Canada  is  about  30,000. 

The  third  chief  territory  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  is 
British  Columbia,  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  which  is  divided  into 
the  four  dioceses,  Columbia  (Vancouver  and  Queen  Charlotte 


1 86  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Island),  New  Westminster,  Kootenay,  and  Caledonia.  Close 
on  140,000  whites  have  settled  here,  a  large  proportion  of 
whom,  however,  are  on  Vancouver  Island  and  in  Vancouver 
City  on  the  mainland,  which  is  the  terminus  of  the  Canadian 
Pacific  Railway.  Besides  about  17,000  Chinese  immigrants, 
there  are  in  this  district,  still  rich  in  promise  for  the  future, 
some  25,500  Indians,  of  whom  11,500  are  Catholic  and  8000 
Protestant  (Anglicans  and  Methodists).  They  are  divided  intc 
many  tribes,  with  different  languages,  and  those  of  them  who 
are  still  heathen  are  in  a  condition  of  great  savagery.  The 
mission  among  the  Zimshians  has  been  the  most  successful. 
In  1862,  Duncan,  a  man  of  rare  practical  missionary  genius, 
who  had  been  a  schoolmaster,  settled  among  them  in  Met- 
lakahtla,  opposite  the  Queen  Charlotte  Islands.  In  a  compar- 
atively short  time,  successfully  overcoming  all  obstacles,  he 
formed  a  well-organised  Christian  community  of  1200  souls, 
which  at  the  same  time  he  transformed  to  an  independent 
centre  of  civilisation  quite  unique  in  that  wilderness,  the  fame 
of  which  spread  over  the  whole  land,  and  aroused  the  high 
admiration  of  the  Governor-General  when  he  visited  it.1  Un- 
fortunately, Duncan's  disobedience  to  the  ecclesiastical  prin- 
ciples of  the  C.  M.  S.  necessitated  his  removal  from  the  Society's 
service,  and  this  was  the  occasion  of  his  emigration  with  the 
great  majority  of  his  Indians  to  Alaska,  where,  as  already 
mentioned,  he  founded  a  new  Metlakahtla.2  The  old  station, 
however,  has  recovered  from  this  crisis ;  only  the  congregation 
is  reduced  to  240  souls. 

There  are  altogether  10  stations  (1700  Christians)  belong- 
ing to  the  C.  M.  S.  in  British  Columbia ;  but  alongside  of  it 
the  S.  P.  G.  has,  in  the  two  dioceses  of  Columbia  and  New 
Westminster,  5  stations  (2400  Christians),  and  the  Methodists, 
20  (?)  (3000  Christians).  The  latter  also  carry  on  work  among 
the  immigrant  Chinese,  not  without  success  (600  Christians), 
although  the  white  colonists  hinder  this  work  seriously  by 
their  hatred  of  the  Mongolian  element.  In  the  whole  Dominion 
of  Canada  the  number  of  native  Christians  amounts  to  at  least 
49,000. 

Section  3.  The  United  States  and  Mexico 

129.  The  great  territory  of  the  United  States  of  North 
America,  which  stretches  from  the  south  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  as  far  as  the  Mexican  frontier,  and  west  and  east  to 
the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  contains,  according  to  the  census 

1  Metlakahtla  arid  the  North  Pacific  Mission,  London,  1880. 
3  Missionary  Review,  1899,  pp.  500  and  539. 


AMERICA  187 

of  1900,  a  population  of  76,295,220,  which,  with  the  exception 
of  about  9  millions  of  coloured  people,  consists  of  white 
settlers,  who  have  all  come  into  the  new  fatherland  as 
Christians.  Of  these,  now  more  than  76|  millions,  about 
10  millions  belong  to  the  Eoman  Church,  while  the  re- 
mainder are  to  be  reckoned  as  Protestants,  although  there 
are  some  millions  of  them  who  are  marked  as  "  unclassified," 
because  they  have  attached  themselves  to  no  definite  evan- 
gelical church  communion.  The  Protestant  population  is 
divided  into  16  main  denominations,  and  the  number  in- 
creases to  143  if  the  numerous  subdivisions  of  the  chief 
groups  are  counted,  but  without  including  the  very  small  sects. 
The  Methodists,  Baptists,  Lutherans,  and  Presbyterians  have 
most  adherents.1 

The  white  immigration  had  its  earliest  beginning  from 
Mexico  in  the  south-west  with  the  Spaniards  in  the  first  half 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  they  were  followed  successively 
by  the  French,  mainly  in  the  north-east,  the  English  in  1600 
and  1620  in  two  settlements  on  the  Atlantic  (Virginia  and 
Massachusetts  or  New  England),  and  the  Dutch  and  Swedes 
just  between  the  two  English  colonies.  In  Virginia  the 
immigrants  were  mostly  staunch  English  Churchmen  (Cava- 
liers); in  New  England,  Puritans;  later  came  Quakers,  who 
under  William  Penn  settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  1682,  and  to 
whose  honour  be  it  added  that  they  treated  the  natives  with 
most  consideration,  as  they  also  were  the  first  to  declare 
strongly  against  slavery.2  Since  that  time  the  inflow  from 
almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe  has  grown  immensely,  but 
the  English  element  has  so  greatly  gained  predominance  that 
it  has  set  its  national  stamp  on  the  whole  population. 

The  coloured  population  falls  into  three  groups :  Indians, 
Negroes,  and  Chinese. 

130.  The  Indians,3  so  called  because  it  was  supposed  that 
the  newly  discovered  America  was  India,  form  the  original 
population  of  the  country.     Although  they  consist  of  a  single 

1  Dorchester,  Christianity  in  the  United  States,  from  the  First  Settlement  down 
to  the  Present  Time,  New  York,  1888.  Caroll,  The  Religious  Forces  of  the 
United  States,  enumerated,  classified,  and  described,  on  the  Basis  of  the  Govern- 
ment Census  o/1890,  New  York,  1893  (vol.  i.  of  American  Church  History). 

2  "The  first  step  which  Penn  took,"  writes  Voltaire,  "  was  to  conclude  a 
treaty  with  his  American  neighbours,  and  that  is  the  only  treaty  between 
Indians  and  Christians  which  was  not  confirmed  by  an  oath,  and  was  never 
broken."  And  the  historian  Mackenzie  states  that,  while  in  the  surround- 
ing settlements  the  colonists  massacred  and  were  massacred,  "no  drop  of 
Quaker  blood  was  ever  shed  by  the  hand  of  an  Indian  in  the  territory  of 
Pennsylvania." 

3  Schoolcraft,  Historical  and  Statistical  Information  respecting  the  History, 
Condition,  and  Prospects  of  the  Indian  Tribes  of  the  United.  States,  Philadelphia, 
1857. 


I  88  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

race,  they  do  not  call  themselves  by  a  single  name,  but  by  the 
names  of  the  many  tribes,  of  different  languages,  into  which 
they  separated,  and  which  lived  mostly  in  a  state  of  war  with 
each  other.  Their  number  within  the  United  States  before 
the  white  immigration,  as  in  Canada,  cannot  be  determined ;  in 
any  case  it  was  much  greater  than  now,  when  it  has  melted 
down  to  307,000.  It  is  not  to  civilisation  that  the  Indians  have 
succumbed,  but  to  the  barbarity  of  the  whites.  The  diminution 
is  not  due  to  a  law  of  extinction,  but  to  the  constant  wars,  the 
diseases  brought  in  from  abroad,  the  ruin  brought  by  brandy,  and 
the  cruel  treatment  on  the  part  of  the  white  colonists.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  repeat  the  sad  story  of  the  intercourse  of  the  white 
man  with  the  red,  which  is  made  up  of  bloodshed,  constant  ex- 
pulsions, broken  agreements,  and  a  whole  long  series  besides  of 
cruelties,  abuses,  falsehoods,  deceits,  spoliations,  and  crimes  of 
every  kind ;  the  story  is  too  well  known.  Even  to-day,  when 
the  red  man  is  no  longer  feared,  that  is  reckoned  the  best 
Indian  policy  which  proclaims  the  principle :  "  The  only  good 
Indian  is  the  dead  Indian."  There  have  arisen,  indeed,  from 
time  to  time  humane  voices  on  behalf  of  the  poor  hunted 
red  man.  Notably,  various  church  societies  (Methodists,  Pres- 
byterians, Congregationalists),  and  from  time  to  time  even 
statesmen,  have  taken  up  his  cause  with  energy,  but  on  the 
whole  they  have  failed  to  turn  aside  his  tragic  fate.  Even  the 
concentration  of  Indians  in  the  Indian  Territory  beyond  the 
Lower  Mississippi,  where  the  so-called  five  civilised  tribes  (65,900 
souls)  are  now  settled,  and  in  the  93  Reservations  scattered 
over  the  States,  in  which  there  live  133,000  Indians,  was  for 
the  most  part  attended  with  crying  injustice  and  severity,  and 
not  seldom  secured  no  sure  protection  at  all  for  the  Indians 
against  the  land-hunger  of  the  white  settlers  who  pressed  in 
after  them.  The  Union  Government,  indeed,  made  considerable 
grants  in  aid  of  the  transplanted  Indians  (£1,600,000  in  1893) ; 
but  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  lion's  share  of  these  stuck 
in  the  pockets  of  dishonest  agents,  these  doles  of  money  and 
natural  products  conferred  a  very  doubtful  benefit  on  the 
Indians,  because,  by  making  them  sure  of  bounties,  they 
rendered  their  education  to  independence  illusory.  The  first 
change  to  a  just  and  really  educative  treatment  of  the  Indians 
was  brought  in  in  1887  by  the  so-called  Dawes'  Bill,  that  is, 
the  law  that  all  Indians  who  give  up  their  tribal  connection 
and  name  may  become  citizens  of  the  State  in  which  their 
Reservation  lies,  and  receive,  instead  of  the  usufruct  of  the 
Reserve,  a  piece  of  ground  of  their  own  free  from  taxes  and 
inalienable,  a  privilege  of  which  up  to  the  present  about  50,000 
Indians  have  availed  themselves  with  good  results.     Of  the 


AMERICA  189 

307,000  redskins  of  the  United  States,  only  185,000  are  as  yet 
baptized  Christians — 90,000  Evangelicals,  95,000  Catholics; 
and  the  majority  of  these  are  good,  reliable,  earnest  Christians, 
and,  moreover,  almost  quite  settled  in  their  habits.  This  im- 
plies that  Christianity  has  been  for  them  the  beginning  of 
civilisation.  The  remainder  of  the  Indians  are  the  object  of 
the  missionary  work  of  to-day. 

131.  The  mission  among  the  Indians,  now  two  and  a  half 
centuries  old,  forms  one  of  the  most  romantic  and  heroic,  but 
also,  alas  !  one  of  the  most  tragic  sections  in  the  history  of 
modern  missions.  The  tragedy  lies  in  the  continual  destruction 
of  hopeful  beginnings  by  most  inconsiderate  land-grabbing  on 
the  part  of  the  white  immigrants.  Again  and  again  the  young 
shoots  have  been  trodden  down  by  the  iron  foot  of  so-called 
civilisation,  which  manifested  itself  towards  the  natives  as  the 
crudest  barbarity.  With  more  humane  treatment  the  Indians 
would  have  been  one  of  the  most  grateful  objects  of  missionary 
effort,  and  would  long  ago  have  been  all  Christians. 

As  has  been  mentioned  before,  missionary  activity  among 
the  Indians  was  first  begun  when  the  Puritans  had  been 
already  25  years  in  the  country,  by  John  Eliot,  pastor  in 
Eoxbury,  Massachusetts,  who  had  been  born  and  highly 
educated  in  England.  He  was  an  original  man,  who  combined 
with  many  peculiarities  sincere  piety  and  a  heart  full  of  love, 
and  led  an  earnest  consecrated  life.1  On  account  of  his 
Christian  walk  he  was  held  in  such  respect  among  the  colonists, 
that  they  had  a  tradition  that  the  land  could  not  be  destroyed 
so  long  as  Eliot  lived.  After  he  had  got  some  command  of 
the  difficult  language,  he  began  in  1646  his  first  missionary 
attempt  among  the  Indians  at  the  Falls  of  the  Grand  River. 
On  their  side  he  was  met  with  a  great  desire  to  learn,  and  if 
he  had  been  so  easy  with  baptism  as  the  Roman  Catholics,  he 
might  soon  have  baptized  thousands.  But  although  the  Indians 
listened  diligently  to  the  Word  of  God,  prayed  in  their  wig- 
wams, and  changed  their  heathen  mode  of  life  according  to  a 
Christian  set  of  rules,  Eliot  delayed  long  with  baptism.  From 
the  very  beginning  he  laid  stress  both  on  the  civilisation  of  the 
Indians  and  on  the  founding  of  civilly  independent  Indian  com- 
munities in  Christian  colonies,  in  which  he  hoped  to  be  able  to 
realise  his  Puritan  ideal  of  a  kind  of  Old  Testament  theocracy. 
The  first  colony  of  Natick  began  not  far  from  the  present 
Boston  in  1651,  and  was  organised  exactly  according  to  Exodus 

1  At  a  great  age,  when  bowed  beneath  many  painful  experiences,  particularly 
the  enmity  of  the  colonists,  he  wrote  to  Robert  Boyle :  "My  understanding  leaves 
me,  my  memory  fails  me,  my  utterance  fails  me ;  but  I  thank  God  my  charity 
holds  out  still. 


IQO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

xviii.  13  sqq.,  and  then  followed  the  first  baptisms.  Besides, 
he  translated  the  .Bible  and  established  a  seminary  for  Indian 
helpers.  And  now  Eliot  was  no  longer  alone.  On  Martha's 
Vineyard,  where  the  pious  colonist  May  hews  devoted  himself 
to  the  Indians,  283  of  them  formed  a  Christian  settlement 
exactly  like  that  in  Natick,  and  in  1652  made  a  covenant  with 
God  with  this  declaration :  "  To-day  we  choose  Jehovah  to  be 
our  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Teacher,  our  Law-giver  in  His 
Word,  our  King,  our  Judge  who  rules  us  through  His  magis- 
trates and  the  pastors."  And  so,  in  spite  of  much  enmity  on 
the  part  of  the  medicine-men  and  some  of  the  chiefs,  there 
arose  one  after  the  other  in  New  England  14  "Praying 
Indian  Villages  "  with  some  3600  Christians,  who  led  a  quiet 
and  peaceful  life  in  all  honesty,  and  made  pleasing  progress  in 
a  very  great  variety  of  the  labours  of  civilisation.  Everything 
was  going  well,  when  in  1675  the  desolating  war  broke  out 
between  the  Indians  and  the  English  which  is  known  as  the 
war  of  "  King  Philip,"  the  chief  of  the  Wampanongs.  In  this 
bloody  war  the  Christian  Indians  stood  between  two  fires,  and  had 
almost  as  much  to  suffer  from  the  suspicious  English  as  from 
their  heathen  countrymen,  on  whose  side  only  a  few  ranged 
themselves.  It  caused  Eliot,  who  was  now  growing  old,  great 
pain  to  see  how  this  war  destroyed  almost  all  his  flourishing 
plantations, — a  typical  occurrence  which  has  been  repeated 
only  too  often  in  the  course  of  two  centuries.  When  Eliot 
died  in  1690,  there  were  left  only  sorrowful  remnants  of  the 
work  which  had  been  so  greatly  blessed. 

Besides  Eliot  the  family  of  the  Mayhews  laboured  as  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Indians — through  five  generations  down  to 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century — on  the  islands  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  Nantucket,  and  Elizabeth,  strenuously  supported 
from  the  beginning  by  Hiakumes,  the  first  convert  of  the 
Christian  Indians.  They  gathered  some  1800  Christians  in 
different  congregations,  which  seem  to  have  remained  more 
secure  in  the  war  troubles  than  Eliot's  Indian  villages.  Some 
preachers,  too,  of  the  Swedish  settlers  made  missionary 
attempts  among  the  Delawares,  which  appear,  however,  to 
have  been  only  feebly  carried  on  and  to  have  yielded  scant 
results.  Altogether  there  set  in  after  the  death  of  Eliot  a 
considerable  ebb  in  the  Indian  mission.  British  effort  was 
limited  mainly  to  that  of  the  Scottish  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  Christian  Knowledge,  which,  however,  was  only  sporadic. 
This  society,  founded  in  Edinburgh  in  1701,  established  a 
Board  of  Correspondence  in  New  York  in  1741,  whose  most 
important  agent  was  David  Brainerd,  a  man  who  combined 
Puritan  one-sidedness  with  an  equal  degree  of  the  most  self- 


AMERICA  191 

denying  faithfulness,  and  amid  continuous  inward  struggles 
wrought  not  without  success  in  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey. 
He  also  gathered  the  converted  Indians  in  a  special  settlement 
— "  Bethel,"  and  laboured  to  make  husbandmen  of  them ;  but 
after  four  years'  labour  the  sickly  man  died  in  1747.1  A  true 
evangelist  too  was  John  Sergeant,  who  founded  a  small  Indian 
settlement  at  Stockbridge  in  Massachusetts  (1734-1749).  A 
deeper  influence  was  exerted  by  Eleazer  Wheelock,  a  Puritan 
clergyman  of  New  England,  who  in  1754  made  a  beginning 
with  the  education  of  Indian  youths  both  as  teachers  and 
missionaries  among  their  countrymen,  and  as  farmers  and 
artisans,  and  for  this  purpose  erected  an  Indian  Missionary 
Institution  in  Lebanon,  Conn.  Although  he  too  did  not 
succeed  in  bringing  into  operation  a  mission  maintained  and 
conducted  quite  independently  by  Indians,  there  went  forth, 
nevertheless,  from  his  school  a  number  of  capable  native 
helpers,  of  whom  the  two  ordained  preachers  Occum  and 
Kirkland  in  particular  achieved  permanent  results  as  mission- 
aries and  pastors,  the  former  among  the  Oneidas,  the  latter 
among  the  so-called  Six  Nations. 

132.  More  important  than  the  British  missionary  efforts. 
were  those  of  the  Moravians,  among  whose  Indian  missionaries 
Eauch  and,  particularly,  the  apostolic  David  Zeisberger  are 
pre-eminent.  As  far  back  as  1735,  when  the  Brethren  under- 
took colonisation  in  Georgia  with  permission  of  the  British 
Government,  their  heroic  work  began.  Its  history  forms  the 
most  shocking  episode  in  the  whole  tragic  Indian  mission. 
Flourishing  life  was  again  and  again  choked  in  blood ;  peaceful 
congregations  gathered  with  much  pains  were  hunted  from 
place  to  place ;  harmless  missionaries  were  suspected  as  men 
dangerous  to  the  State,  and  dragged  before  the  Courts  and 
even  to  prison, — and  all  this  from  white  people  who  bore  the 
Christian  name !  After  the  Brethren  had  to  retire  from 
Georgia,  Bauch  founded  in  1742  the  first  station,  Shekomeko, 
in  the  State  of  New  York,  after  patiently  overcoming  unspeak- 
able difficulties.  It  developed  into  a  peaceful  oasis  in  the 
midst  of  a  wilderness  of  barbarism,  and  for  that  reason  became 
an  offence  to  the  white  settlers  and  had  to  be  given  up.  The 
founding  of  Gnadenhiitten  in  Pennsylvania  followed  in  1746 ; 
in  1749  it  had  a  population  of  500  Indians,  and  for  almost  ten 
years  it  developed  happily  both  outwardly  and  inwardly.  Then 
war  broke  out  between  the  British  and  the  French,  and  the 
heathen  Indians  became  involved  in  it  and  were  induced  to 
set  the  mission-house  on  fire,  whereby  eleven  of  its  inhabitants 

1  Thompson,  Protestant  Missions :  their  Rise  and  Early  Progress,  New  York, 
1894,  chap,  iv.,  with  sources  mentioned. 


192  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

lost  their  lives  and  the  beautiful  station  was  completely 
destroyed.  A  sorrowful  time  followed,  in  which  the  Christian 
Indians  were  scattered  in  flight,  and  scarcely  had  they  been 
gathered  into  the  new  colonies  of  Nain  and  Wechquctank 
when  they  were  overtaken  by  the  same  fate  as  at  Gnaden- 
hiitten.  In  1765  the  colony  of  Friedenshiitten  was  founded. 
For  seven  years  the  people  lived  here  in  peace,  cultivated  their 
land,  organised  themselves  as  a  Christian  congregation  quite 
in  Herrnliut  fashion,  and  from  this  centre  carried  on  an  active 
and  far-reaching  mission.  But  being  always  oppressed  anew, 
they  had  to  withdraw  farther,  and  gradually  settled  in  four 
villages  on  the  Muskingum,  all  of  which  developed  into  per- 
manent colonies.  Then  the  North  American  War  of  Inde- 
pendence broke  out,  and  both  British  and  Americans  tried  to 
draw  the  Indians  to  their  side,  while  the  missionaries  made 
every  effort  to  keep  them  aloof  from  the  war.  Once  the 
British  Governor  sent  a  note  to  the  missionaries  ordering  that 
their  Indians  should  advance  against  the  Americans  beyond  the 
Ohio  and  bring  him  their  scalps,  but  Zeisberger  in  anger  threw 
the  letter  into  the  fire.  This  action  filled  the  Governor  with 
furious  hatred  towards  the  Christian  Indians,  who,  moreover, 
had  not  all  followed  the  advice  of  the  missionaries.  It  induced 
him  also  to  cause  the  heathen  Hurons  to  destroy  a  part  of 
their  beautiful  settlements  by  fire,  on  which  occasion,  too, 
Zeisberger's  valuable  manuscripts  were  burned.  Still  more 
shocking,  however,  was  the  bloody  deed  perpetrated  by  a  band 
of  American  volunteers,  who,  on  8th  March  1782,  slaughtered 
in  cold  blood  96  defenceless  Indians,  including  27  women  and 
34  children.  Not  till  1791  did  the  hunted  Christian  Indians 
find  a  permanent  resting-place  at  Fairfield  in  Canada.  The 
chief  hero  of  this  much-suffering  mission  was,  as  has  been 
already  remarked,  the  brave  Zeisberger.  He  had  become  quite 
an  Indian  to  the  Indians,  and  worked  among  them  from  1745 
to  1808,  loved  as  a  father  and  honoured  as  a  patriarch.  Of 
the  once  so  hopeful  work  of  the  Brethren,  Fairfield  alone 
remains  to-day  for  a  witness ;  but  quite  recently  3  Indian 
stations  have  again  been  founded  in  South  California. 

133.  After  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  con- 
stituted, quite  a  number  of  American  church  societies  under- 
took mission  work  among  the  Indians,  to  some  extent  with 
gratifying  success,  especially  in  the  Reserves.  But  the  land- 
hunger  of  the  colonists,  witli  all  the  dishonesty,  cruelty,  rapacity, 
and  the  unjust  wars  which  it  brought  with  it,  always  lay  like 
a  poisonous  mildew  on  the  sprouting  seed.  It  would  lead  us 
too  far  afield  to  enumerate  all  the  separate  Indian  mission 
centres  that  to-day  are  scattered  throughout  almost  the  whole 


AMERICA  I93 

territory  of  the  United  States.  It  is  calculated  that  there  are 
193  missionaries  at  work  among  the  Indian  population.  Should 
the  Government  at  last  adopt,  for  all  time  to  come,  a  just  and 
humane  Indian  policy,  the  disinherited  redskins  will  in  time 
forget  the  crying  injustice  that  has  for  centuries  been  meted 
out  to  them,  and  then  the  chief  hindrance  to  their  Christianisa- 
tion  will  have  been  removed. 

134.  Much  more  numerous  than  the  Indians  of  the 
United  States  are  the  negroes,  who  number  to-day  at  least  8f 
millions.  The  very  existence  of  this  population  is  a  reproach 
to  the  white  Christians  of  North  America.  Not  to  them  alone, 
it  is  true  :  the  whole  of  Western  Christendom  has  been  stained 
by  the  part  it  has  taken  in  the  slave  trade  and  in  the  intro- 
duction of  slavery.  Yet  North  America,  along  with  the  West 
Indies,  became  the  chief  slave-market.  In  no  other  colony  has 
the  number  of  negro  slaves  ever  been  so  great.  Even  although 
it  be  granted  that  their  lot  was  in  many  respects  quite  toler- 
able, yet  inseparable  from  it  there  was  much  inhumanity, 
which  must  be  reckoned  as  a  disgrace  to  the  Christian  slave- 
holders, and  as  a  demoralising  degradation  to  the  slaves. 
After  Christian  North  America  had  for  centuries  tolerated 
slavery,  and  indeed  protected  it  by  law,  even  although  it  had 
long  been  proscribed  by  the  example  of  England,  it  required  a 
bloody  civil  war  (1860-65),  in  which  motives  mainly  political 
at  last  brought  about  its  abolition.1 

Hardly  any  organised  mission,  such  as  that  among  the 
Indians,  was  carried  on  among  the  negroes  of  North  America 
till  1860.  Many  pious  Christian  people,  however,  and  Christian 
congregations  of  the  most  various  denominations,  particularly 
the  Methodists  and  the  Baptists,  made  the  Gospel  known  to 
the  slaves  living  in  their  districts,  and  provided  church  care 
for  the  converts.  This  occasional  work  of  converting  and 
caring  for  the  negroes  met  with  bitter  opposition  from  some 
of  the  slave-holders ;  others,  however,  not  only  tolerated  it  but 
treated  it  with  favour.  In  this  way  a  work  of  Christianisation 
went  on  steadily,  which  was  materially  facilitated  by  the  fact 
that  the  negro  slaves  were  settled  people  who  could  always  be 
reached,  and  that  the  English  tongue  could  be  used  as  a  means 
of  instruction.  As  the  result  of  this  work  there  were  in  1860 
some  half  a  million  Baptist  and  Methodist  negro  communicants. 
Since  emancipation  the  Christianisation  of  the  negroes  has 
been  carried  on  so  energetically  also  by  other  sections  of  the 
church,  and  in  particular  by  the  negro  Christians  themselves, 
that,  according  to  the  church  census  of    1900,  the  principal 

1  It  may  be.  remarked,  in  passing,  that  this  war  cost  10  milliards  of  dollars 
(2000  millions  sterling)  and  803,000  men. 

13 


194  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

coloured  churches  alone  numbered  3,314,900  communicants. 
The  greatest  number  belonged  to  the  Baptists  (1,864,600)1  and 
to  the  Methodists  (in  five  sects,  1,411,300);  but  there  are  also 
Presbyterian,  Congregationalist,  Episcopal,  and  other  coloured 
church  communities,  which  together  number  scarcely  less  than 
150,000  communicants.  If  we  add  to  this,  that  especially  in 
the  Northern  States  there  are  also  many  Christian  negroes 
within  the  white  congregations,  we  must  reckon  the  total 
number  of  evangelical  coloured  Christians  in  North  America 
to-day  as  at  loast  1\  millions.2  That  is  the  most  compact  body 
of  converted  native  Christians  to  be  found  in  present-day  mis- 
sions. Only  160,000  of  the  negroes  of  the  United  States  are 
Catholics ;  the  still  heathen  remainder  will  soon  be  assimilated 
by  the  evangelical  Home  Mission.  The  Christianity  of  the 
majority  of  these  black  millions  is  still  indeed  at  a  tolerably 
low  stage,  and  imposes  heavy  tasks  on  the  educative  missionary 
activity.  But  in  this  educational  work  great  zeal  is  being 
shown  by  the  whites  as  well  as  by  the  blacks.  In  particular, 
the  (Congregationalist)  American  Missionary  Association  has 
rendered  valuable  services  in  this  respect  by  means  of  its  ex- 
tensive school  activity.  Among  the  colleges  founded  by  it  for 
the  blacks,  the  Fisk  University  has  become  the  best  known, 
because  it  has  been  founded  essentially  by  the  contributions 
collected  some  twenty  years  ago  in  America  and  Europe  by 
the  black  Jubilee  Singers.  But  the  principal  work  has  been 
done,  and  is  being  done  to-day,  by  the  negroes  themselves. 
Since  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  they  have  gathered  for  school 
purposes,  inclusive  of  buildings,  the  amazing  sum  of  £5,713,000 
($27,422,400),and  for  church  buildings,£8,000,000($38,400,000). 
At  present  1£  millions  of  negro  children  are  attending  ele- 
mentary schools,  and  close  on  50,000  secondary  schools,  and 
in  these  schools  there  are  35,000  coloured  teachers.  In  1900 
there  were  about  2000  negro  physicians,  and  about  as  many 
in  official  positions;  and  there  were  140,000  estates,  of  the 
value  of  £150,000,000  ($720,000,000),  in  the  possession  of  the 
negro  population.  The  Hampton  Institute  in  Virginia,  founded 
by  the  noble  General  Armstrong,  and  the  Tuskegee  Institute 

1  In  1905  the  number  was  2,110,269. 

2  Noble,  The  Redemption  of  Africa,  New  York,  1899.  This  book  (chap.  xiv. : 
"Africa  in  America:  Missions  to  Black  Americans")  is  the  first,  so  far  as  I 
know,  which  gives  a  survey  of  the  missions  lo  North  American  negroes  ;  it 
reckons  the  total  number  of  negro  communicants  in  the  United  States  in  1890 
at  2,673,977.  But  it  is  not  manifest  whether  the  detailed  statistical  statements 
which  then  follow  regarding  the  several  coloured  denominations,  organisations, 
and  churches,  and  which  are  unfortunately  not  very  clear,  refer  to  the  year 
1890,  or  to  a  later  year.  The  total  estimate  of  7$  million  evangelical  negro 
Christians  in  the  year  1900  is  more  likely  to  be  too  low  than  too  high. 


AMERICA  195 

in  Alabama,  are  magnificent  teaching  institutions,  conducted 
by  negroes  and  designed  for  negroes  only,  and  they  train  their 
pupils  for  practical  life  in  the  soundest  fashion.  Such  a 
man  as  the  now  well-known  Booker  Washington  is  a  living 
proof  that  the  negro  is  capable  of  taking  an  equal  share 
with  and  alongside  of  the  European  in  the  great  tasks  of 
mankind.1 

That  is  an  advance  in  forty  years  deserving  of  every 
recognition.  It  is  true  that  there  is  much  that  is  only  an 
outward  varnish  of  culture,  and  combined  with  much  self- 
conceit,  and  the  great  mass  are  still  on  a  low  level  both  of 
culture  and  of  morality.  It  was  a  rash  stroke  on  the  part 
of  the  North  American  Liberal  doctrinaires  to  confer  the 
franchise  immediately  after  emancipation  on  the  negroes, 
morally  and  spiritually  neglected,  and  even  wasted  as  they 
were  by  their  long  slavery ;  it  puffed  them  up,  while  at 
the  same  time  making  them  the  play -ball  of  political  parties. 
Another  fantastic  American  scheme,  which  is  every  now  and 
then  being  started  afresh,  is  that  of  the  emigration  on  a  large 
scale  of  negroes  to  Africa.  Whether  the  North  American 
negro  Christians  are  called  to  play  an  important  part  yet  in 
African  missions  is  a  question  which  can  scarcely  be  answered 
at  present.  As  yet  the  hopes  entertained  in  this  respect  have 
not  been  fulfilled.  The  large  and  steadily  increasing  number 
of  negroes  in  the  United  States,  whose  very  colour  renders 
them  an  element  in  the  population  bearing  a  certain  stigma, 
and  provokes  the  white  mob  to  continual  acts  of  violence, 
presents  to  the  politics  as  well  as  the  Christianity  of  North 
America  a  problem  in  national  ethics  the  solution  of  which 
seems  still  remote.2 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that,  while  more  than  half  of  the 
Indians,  the  original  inhabitants  of  North  America,  are  still 
heathen,  the  imported  negroes  have  almost  all  accepted 
Christianity.  With  respect  to  the  negroes,  the  fault  of  the 
whites  is  at  least  as  great  as  with  respect  to  the  Indians,  for 
the  sin  of  the  slave  trade  and  slavery  cannot  be  considered 
less  of  an  evil  than  the  cruelty  that  has  been  shown  to  the 
Indians.  If,  however,  the  black  population  of  North  America 
had  accepted  Christianity,  and  that  in  the  case  of  many  of  them 
while  still  slaves,  the  fact  is  to  be  explained  only  by  the 

1  B.  Washington,  Up  from  Slavery.  An  Autobiography.  His  second  book, 
Working  with  the  Hands,  a  sequel  to  the  former,  gives  in  its  closing  chapter, 
' '  Negro  Education  not  a  Failure, "  new  and  convincing  proofs  of  the  good  results 
of  the  education  of  the  negro. 

2  An  instructive,  it  may  be  called  startling,  glance  into  this  problem  is 
furnished  in  the  nobly  written  book  by  Dubois,  a  very  accomplished  negro, 
entitled  The  Sov.ls  0/ Black  Folk,  Chicago,  1903. 


196  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

twofold  circumstance  that  the  misery  of  slavery  made  the 
negroes  more  susceptible  to  the  comfort  of  the  Gospel,  and 
that  the  messengers  of  the  Gospel  appeared  to  them  as  their 
friends  and  protectors.  There  was  also  among  the  black  slaves 
much  fierce  hatred  of  their  white  oppressors,  and  frequently 
this  hatred  blazed  forth  in  the  flames  of  rebellion ;  but  their 
transportation  into  a  strange  land,  and  the  deadening  of  their 
feeling  of  independence,  broke  their  power  of  resistance ;  and 
as  there  was  not  lacking  a  Christian  charity  which  took  a 
friendly  interest  in  the  oppressed  and  was  able  also  to  reach 
them,  their  oppression  under  slavery  created  a  receptivity  for 
Christianity.  After  emancipation,  their  eagerness  for  education 
and  for  the  attainment  of  a  social  position  alongside  of  the 
whites  has  probably  co-operated  towards  their  Christianisation. 
Men's  treatment  of  the  black  people  was  very  bad,  but  God's 
all-wise  mercy  directed  it  so  that  out  of  it  good  came  to  them. 
The  missionary  history  of  the  West  Indies  will  introduce  us 
once  more  to  the  question  of  slavery. 

135.  The  third  section  of  the  coloured  population  of  North 
America  consists  of  Chinese  immigrants,  who  for  half  a 
century  have  been  coming  especially  into  the  Western 
States.1  They  number  to-day  about  119,000,  and  they  would 
be  much  more  numerous,  were  they  not  kept  in  check  by  the 
often  violent  enmity  of  the  American  workmen  towards  their 
yellow  rivals,  and  by  unjust  legislation.  This  immigration 
has  its  dark  side.  It  cheapens  labour,  and  in  the  segregation 
of  the  Chinese  element  has  led  to  dangerous  immorality 
through  the  disproportion  of  the  immigrant  men  to  the 
women ;  but  their  illiberal  treatment  by  the  Americans  is  not 
thereby  justified.  These  heathen  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  have 
been  zealously  befriended  by  the  American  friends  of  missions, 
especially  by  the  Presbyterians,  Episcopal  Methodists,  and 
Baptists,  mostly  by  the  agency  of  missionaries  who  have  been 
in  China ;  and,  in  view  of  the  abusive  treatment  which  they 
often  meet  with  in  free  America,  it  is  a  great  result  of 
Christian  charity  that,  by  preaching  and  teaching  in  schools, 
about  4000  Chinese  have  been  converted,  of  whom  probably  the 
half  have  returned  to  their  country  and  are  there  doing  much 
for  the  extension  of  Christianity.  Of  the  many  Japanese, 
too,  who  stay  for  a  time  in  the  United  States,  mainly  for  their 
education,  not  a  few  take  home  with  them  as  their  most 
precious  treasure  the  Gospel  of  Christ. 

l3bo.  In  Greenland  and  Labrador  there  is  no  Catholic  Mission,  but 
Alaska   (including   the   Aleutians)    has   been   an   Apostolic    Prefecture 
since   its    separation    from   the   diocese   of  Vancouver.      According  to 
1  Gibson,  The  Chinese  in  America,  Cincinnati!,  1877. 


AMERICA  I97 

Miss.  Cath.,  1901,  this  Prefecture  included  8  head  stations,  manned 
by  16  priests  (Jesuits),  8  lay  brothers,  and  28  sisters.  Catholici  1000 
computantur. 

Lower  and  Upper  Canada  in  what  is  to-day  British  North  America 
have  been  an  old  sphere  of  Catholic  missions  from  the  time  of  the  French 
immigration  ;  hence  it  is  here  that  we  find  the  most  compact  communities 
of  Catholic  Indians.  There  is,  on  the  other  hand,  an  extensive  Catholic 
mission  (Oblates  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  Mary)  to  the  heathen 
carried  on  throughout  Hudsonia,  and  above  all  in  Columbia,  which  is 
of  later  date,  and  frequently  in  unseemly  competition  with  evangelical 
missions.  The  hierarchical  subdivisions  of  this  immense  region  is  not 
perspicuous  in  Catholic  sources  ;  I  refrain  therefore  entirely  from  describ- 
ing it.  Moreover,  the  numerical  results  of  the  actual  mission  to  the 
heathen  cannot  be  distinctly  computed  from  Catholic  statistics.  There 
may  be  about  57,000  Catholic  Indians  in  the  whole  Dominion  of  Canada. 

A  large  portion  of  the  United  States  of  America  is  also  an  old  sphere 
of  Catholic  missions,  and  the  old  Catholic  mission  to  the  Indians  has  a 
no  less  tragic  history  than  the  much  less  extensive  earlier  evangelical  one. 
To-day  there  are  95,000  Indians  in  the  United  States  who  are  under  the 
care  of  Catholic  missions.  Among  the  negroes  in  the  Union  there  are 
at  the  very  most  160,000  belonging  to  the  Catholic  Church. 

136.  In  Catholic  Mexico  a  large  number  of  North  American 
missionary  societies  prosecute  an  active  work  of  evangelisation, 
which  meets  with  violent  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  priests, 
and  has  repeatedly  stirred  up  the  fanatical  people  to  bloody 
persecutions.  The  work,  however,  is  always  extending  farther 
over  the  whole  country,  and  already  50,000  to  60,000  natives 
have  been  gathered  into  Protestant  congregations.  This,  how- 
ever, is  not  properly  a  heathen  mission,  and  so  we  content 
ourselves  with  this  reference  and  pass  on  at  once  to  the  West 
Indies. 

Section  4.  The  West  Indies  and  Central  America 

137.  West  Indies. — In  this  great  archipelago  an  African 
population  early  took  the  place  of  the  aborigines,  who  were 
almost  exterminated  by  the  inhuman  cruelty  of  the  Spaniards.1 
The  introduction  and  treatment  of  these  Africans  belong,  in 
like  manner,  to  the  darkest  pages  of  the  world's  history.  There 
is  no  foundation  in  fact  for  the  legend  that  the  African  slave 
trade  was  introduced  by  the  Dominican  Bartolomeo  de  Las 
Casas,  the  noblest  figure  of  that  time  among  the  Spaniards  of 
the  AVest  Indies.  What  is  true  is  that  this  brave  champion 
of  the  ill-treated  natives  recommended  the  introduction  of  a 
number  of  African  negroes  to  the  West  Indies  in  order  to  check 
the  frightful  depopulation  of  the  islands.  It  was  sympathy 
with  the  perishing  Indians  that  led  him  to  give  this  advice, 
and  at  a  later  time  he  bitterly  regretted  it  as  the  greatest 

1  Helps,  The  Life  of  Las  Casas,  London,  11868. 


198  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

mistake  of  his  life.  But  Las  Casas  certainly  did  not  introduce 
slavery.  Long  before  his  time  black  slaves  were  no  unfamiliar 
article  of  trade.  It  is  to  the  Portuguese  that  the  shame 
belongs  of  having  first  brought  the  "black  wares"  into  the 
market.  As  far  back  as  1442  they  brought  slaves  to  Lisbon 
from  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  And  so  far  was  the  Roman 
Church,  then  all-powerful,  from  condemning  this  disgraceful 
trade,  that  it  even  made  it  lawful.  In  1452,  Pope  Nicholas  v. 
wrote  to  King  Alfonso  of  Portugal :  "  By  virtue  of  our  Apostolic 
office,  we  confer  on  thee  free  and  unlimited  authority  to 
transport  the  Saracens  and  heathen  and  other  unbelievers  and 
enemies  of  Christ  into  perpetual  slavery."  Eugene  iv.,  it  is 
true,  threatened  excommunication,  on  paper  at  least,  to  those 
who  should  make  slaves  of  baptized  negroes  or  catechumens, 
but  he  offered  no  objection  to  making  slaves  of  heathen 
negroes  and  keeping  in  slavery  those  who  had  been  baptized. 
From  time  to  time  there  appeared  a  feeble  papal  disapproval 
of  the  inhuman  practices  connected  with  slavery,  but  the 
institution  itself  was  not  condemned.  Both  Dominicans  and 
Jesuits  fought  strongly  against  the  cruel  treatment  of  the 
slaves,  but  they  did  not  lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of  the  evil 
itself.  Not  even  Las  Casas  did  so,  for  his  recommendation  to 
import  African  negroes  into  the  West  Indies  can  only  be 
explained  on  the  supposition  that  he  did  not  consider  slavery 
itself  a  wrong. 

In  1501  the  Spanish  Crown  expressly  permitted  the 
importation  of  African  slaves,  and  after  that  this  accursed 
trade  in  human  beings  was  regarded  as  legally  sanctioned. 
Gradually  all  the  seafaring  Christian  nations  began  to  take 
part  in  it, — English,  French,  Dutch,  Danes,  and  at  times 
Brandenburgers  also.  An  approximate  estimate  can  hardly  be 
formed  of  the  total  number  of  slaves  exported  from  unhappy 
Africa  during  all  the  centuries  of  slavery.  There  must  in 
any  case  have  been  many  millions ; 1  and  if  we  consider,  in 
addition,  how  many  lost  their  lives  in  the  slave  raids  and  in 
the  course  of  transport  to  the  coast  and  to  the  place  of  settle- 
ment, how  many,  too,  under  the  cruel  treatment  of  their 
masters;  and  if,  finally,  wc  reckon  up  all  the  misery  and 
Buffering,  as  well  as  the  moral  degradation,  which  were 
inseparably  bound  up  with  slavery,  we  shall  not  find  any 
exaggeration  in  the  words  of  Lord  Palmerston :  "  The  crimes 
which  have  been  committed  in  connection  with  African 
slavery  and  in  the  slave  trade  are  greater  than  all  the  crimes 
put  together  which  have  been  committed  by  the  human  race 

1  Between  1660  and  1786  the  English  alono  imported  2,130,000  negro  slaves 
into  their  West  Indian  possessions. 


AMERICA  199 

from  the  beginning  of  the  world  till  the  present  time."  In 
the  West  Indies  themselves  the  treatment  which  the  slaves 
experienced  was  very  varied  in  character.  Many  had  to  suffer 
inhuman  cruelties ;  but  in  some  cases  the  relations  were  of  a 
patriarchal  type,  and  we  must  guard  ourselves  against  repre- 
senting all  the  slave-holders  alike  as  brutal  masters.  From 
the  beginniug  the  evangelical  missionaries  took  the  part  of  the 
slaves  when  they  were  oppressed,  and  they  hold  a  place  in  the 
front  rank  of  those  who  fought  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,1 
thus  drawing  upon  themselves  no  small  enmity  on  the  part 
of  the  planters.  At  last,  in  1838,  England  gave  freedom  to 
all  the  slaves  in  its  colonies,  granting  to  their  masters  an 
indemnity  of  £20,000,000.  Gradually  this  example  was 
followed  in  the  other  West  Indian  possessions ;  in  the  Spanish 
(1886)  last  of  all.  As  happened  later  in  the  Southern  States 
of  the  North  American  Union,  the  bypast  wrongs  of  the 
slaves  in  the  West  Indies  avenged  themselves  after  their 
emancipation,  for  by  far  the  greater  part  of  them  had  not 
been  educated  to  the  right  use  of  freedom,  and  in  consequence 
the  colonies  fell  back  industrially.  There  arose  a  scarcity  of 
workers,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to  bring  in  coolies  from 
India  and  China,  by  which  the  population,  already  pretty 
mixed,  was  made  still  more  varied,  and  their  standard  of 
morality  was  lowered.2  Over  the  whole  of  the  West  Indian 
islands  there  is  to-day  a  population  of  about  five  millions, 
including  numerous  white  people  and  mulattos,  divided 
variously  through  the  British,  French,  Dutch,  Danish,  and 
North  American  (formerly  Spanish)  possessions. 

138.  The  island  of  Cuba,3  formerly  misgoverned  by  Spain, 
but  now  under  American  government,  with  its  1,573,000 
inhabitants,  among  whom  there  are  only  a  quarter  million 
negroes  and  mulattos  and  15,000  Chinese,  is  nominally 
Catholic.  It  was  only  in  1884  that  evangelical  missions 
succeeded  for  the  first  time  in  gaining  some  entrance  here,  at 
first  by  the  agency  of  two  Spanish  pastors,  then  of  a  native 
Cuban,  Diaz,  a  physician  and  a  leader  of  insurgents,  who  had 
to  flee,  and  was  completely  converted  in  New  York,  and  then 
returned  as  an  evangelist  to  his  native  country.  This  man 
has  succeeded  in  forming  a  scattered  evangelical  congregation, 

1  Warneck,  Die  Stellung  der  evangelischen  Mission  zur  Sklavenfrage, 
Gutersloh,  1389,  13. 

2  Very  instructive  glimpses  into  the  social  life  of  the  West  Indian  negroes 
are  given  by  W.  P.  Livingstone,  Black  Jamaica :  a  Study  in  Evolution, 
London,  1899. 

3  The  American  censns  has  shown  that  not  even  50,000  of  the  population 
attend  a  school,  and  two-thirds  of  the  same  are  illiterate.  Only  24  per  cent, 
of  the  adult  population  have  formed  legitimate  marriages. 


200  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

which  at  present  has  1700  adult  members,  and  in  winning  10 
of  the  natives  as  helpers.  After  the  ending  of  the  intolerable 
Spanish  rule,  an  energetic  work  of  evangelisation  was  at  once 
set  on  foot  by  11  American  missionary  societies,  which  has 
already  gathered  2300  adult  church  members. 

Haiti,  with  a  population  of  1,500,000,  consisting  practically 
of  negroes  and  mulattos,  which  in  its  two  republics  has  given 
itself  a  caricature  of  self-government,  is  also  outwardly 
Catholicised,  but  is  in  reality  filled  with  the  darkest  African 
superstition.  When  in  1804  Haiti  made  itself  independent  of 
Spain  and  France,  Eome  withdrew  her  priests,  and  only  in 
1864  again  undertook  the  ecclesiastical  administration.  In 
the  interval  the  population,  which  was  only  superficially 
Catholic,  became  utterly  degenerate,  and  although  since  then 
real  diligence  has  been  expended  upon  their  ecclesiastical 
nurture,  their  religious  and  moral  condition  is  still  extremely 
sad.  Eepeatedly,  at  the  request  of  the  Government  of  Haiti, 
thousands  of  negroes  have  been  imported  from  the  United 
States,  who  were  in  part  members  of  evangelical  communions, 
but  they  have  themselves  rather  degenerated  than  exercised 
a  regenerating  influence  upon  the  Haitians.  Since  the  third 
and  fourth  decades  of  last  century  the  English  Wesleyans, 
the  American  and  West  Indian  Baptists,  and  especially  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States,  have 
exercised  a  measure  of  evangelistic  activity;  but  although 
there  are  now  altogether  30  ordained  pastors  (including  8 
natives)  engaged  in  this  work,  the  result  appears  to  be  as  yet 
very  moderate,  perhaps  8000  to  10,000  evangelical  Christians. 

Porto  Eico.  whose  population  of  950,000,  including  363,000 
coloured  people,  is  likewise  nominally  Catholic,  has  during  its 
subjection  to  Spanish  rule  scarcely  been  touched  by  evangelical 
missions,  but  now,  like  Cuba,  has  become  the  object  of  evan- 
gelisation by  eight  American  societies  (2500  communicants). 

139.  The  remaining  part  of  the  West  Indian  archipelago 
forms,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mission  field,  or  rather  now  a 
church  territory,  which  is  in  the  main  evangelical.  Here 
again  it  is  the  Moravians  who  have  the  credit  of  having  begun 
evangelical  missions  in  1732.  Besides  Leonhard  Dober  and 
David  Nitschmann,  the  founders  were  Friedrich  Mar  (in  and 
Gottlieb  Israel.  At  first  there  was  very  much  to  suffer, 
and  only  such  courageous  faith  as  animated  the  young 
Moravian  Church  could  supply  the  energy  for  carrying  on  the 
mission.  In  particular,  the  loss  of  human  life  was  great.  Up 
to  1739,  22  Brethren,  some  of  them  colonists,  died  in  St. 
Thomas  and  St.  Croix.  To  the  loss  of  life  was  added  violent 
persecution  by  the  whites.     When  Zinzendorf  himself  came  to 


AMERICA  201 

St.  Thomas  in  1739,  he  found  the  Brethren  in  prison  because 
the  Danish  Governor  supposed  them  to  be  dangerous  agitators. 
Soon,  however,  there  was  a  change.  Ten  years  later,  when 
Spangenberg  visited  the  island,  the  same  Governor  led  him  to 
a  window  of  his  house  and  asked  him  if  he  had  seen  his 
"  castle."  He  pointed  to  the  plantation  of  the  Brethren,  and 
said,  "  There  it  lies.  It  is  that  that  gives  us  our  security  in 
this  island,  and  makes  it  possible  for  me  without  any  fear  to 
sleep  a  night  outside  of  the  fort,  which  otherwise  I  should  not 
venture  to  do."  An  attempt  at  colonisation  in  St.  Croix  failed, 
but  nothing  could  shake  the  perseverance  of  the  brave  Brethren, 
prepared  as  they  had  been  even  to  become  slaves  if  by  that 
means  they  could  carry  the  message  of  Him  who  breaks  all 
bonds.  Besides  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Croix,  the  Moravians  also 
occupied  St.  Jan  in  1754,  and  so  in  a  short  time  their  mission 
extended  over  the  whole  of  the  Danish  West  Indies.  In  the 
three  islands  which  have  been  named  it  has  to-day  about 
5000  Christians  under  its  care  at  seven  stations,  and  maintains 
a  theological  seminary  for  the  education  of  native  preachers 
and  teachers.  Of  32,700  inhabitants,  11,800  are  Catholic,  the 
rest  are  almost  entirely  evangelical;  the  majority — about 
12,000 — belong  to  the  Anglican  Church. 

140.  From  1764  onwards  the  Moravians  occupied  also  the 
western  part  (Jamaica)  and  then  the  eastern  part  (Antigua, 
St.  Kitts,  Barbadoes,  Tobago,  Trinidad)  of  British  West  Indies. 
In  Jamaica,  however,  it  was  only  after  1815,  and  especially 
after  the  abolition  of  slavery  in  1838,  that  success  attended 
the  mission  work,  and  in  1860  a  great  awakening  took  place. 
At  present  the  Moravians  have  19  stations  in  the  island,  with 
16,000  Christians,  75  schools,  2  institutions  for  men  and 
women  teachers,  and  7  native  preachers.  As  it  was  the 
first,  so  it  was  for  long  the  only  mission  in  Jamaica.  Now, 
however,  without  reckoning  smaller  societies,  work  is  carried 
on  also  by  the  English  Church,  the  Methodists,  the  Baptists,  and 
the  Scottish  Presbyterians.  Of  the  half-million  of  negroes  in 
Jamaica,  almost  450,000  are  enrolled  as  evangelical  Christians. 
In  the  Lesser  Antilles,  the  eastern  part  of  British  West  Indies, 
where  also  many  initial  difficulties  and  reverses  have  been 
experienced,  the  Moravians  have  to-day,  in  connection  with 
20  stations,  over  17,000  Christians,  43  schools,  and  9  native 
preachers.  Along  with  them  Anglicans  and  Methodists  and 
Catholics  are  also  at  work  here,  the  two  first  of  whom  have 
together  about  325,000  Christians  under  their  care.  The 
West  Indian  mission  field  of  the  Moravians,  with  its  38,500 
coloured  Christians,  in  which  hardly  any  baptisms  of  heathen 
now  take  place,  is  at  present  in  course  of  being  transformed 


202  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

into  an  independent  church  province.  Financially  it  is 
supported  even  now  almost  entirely  by  its  own  resources. 
The  schools  are  provided  with  native  teachers,  and  many 
congregations  with  native  pastors.  The  co-operation  and 
supervision  of  the  European  missionaries  can,  however,  not  be 
dispensed  with.  Unfortunately,  during  recent  years,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  decline  of  the  sugar  industry,  the  whole 
economic  condition  of  the  West  Indies  has  so  deteriorated 
that  the  prospect  for  the  future  is  very  cloudy.  The  church 
life,  which  here  too  moves  in  Herrnhut  forms,  is  on  the  whole 
flourishing.  Morality,  however,  is  still  elementary,  and  suffers 
still  from  the  after-effects  of  slavery. 

141.  After  the  Moravians,  the  English  Methodists  entered 
on  a  West  Indian  Mission,  beginning  in  1786,  when  Thomas 
Coke  was  driven  by  a  storm  to  Antigua  while  on  his  way  to 
Nova  Scotia;  and  the  fearless  zeal  with  which  he  succeeded  in 
awakening  an  interest  in  England  for  the  West  Indian  slaves, 
and  maintained  their  cause  there,  soon  brought  the  work  into 
successful  operation.1  The  greater  the  enmity  of  the  slave- 
holders to  the  missionaries,  the  more  receptive  did  the  negroes 
show  themselves.  They  revered  the  missionaries  as  their  pro- 
tectors, and  the  stirring  Methodist  ways,  so  accordant  with 
their  own  character,  had  for  them  a  peculiar  attractiveness. 
At  Coke's  death,  which  took  place  in  1813  on  his  way  to 
Ceylon,  the  Methodists  could  count  already  11,000  negro 
Christians.  The  West  Indian  Mission,  after  bearing  till  this 
time  an  essentially  personal  character,  was  now  organised  by 
the  founding  of  the  Wesleyan  Missionary  Society.  In  1820 
the  whole  of  the  West  Indian  mission  field  was  divided  into 
four  districts, — Antigua,  St.  Vincent,  Jamaica,  and  the  Bahama 
Islands, — each  of  which  was  again  divided  into  various  circuits. 
In  spite  of  much  enmity  on  the  part  of  the  slaveholders,  the 
Methodist  Mission  increased  from  decade  to  decade.  In  1870 
there  were  in  all  its  districts  42,000  church  members 2  in  full 
communion,  who  may  have  increased  now  to  some  48,000 
(160,000  Christians).  With  the  exception  of  the  Bahama 
district,  with  3600  church  members  (14,400  Christians),  the 
West  Indian  mission  field  was  constituted  in  1884  into  an 
independent  Wesleyan  Conference,  but  in  1902  it  had  to  be 
again  connected  with  the  mother  Missionary  Society  in  London, 
since  it  was  not  able  to  maintain  itself  permanently  out  of  its 
own  resources.     The  Christianity  of  the  negro  Methodists  is 

1  Moi8ter,   The  Father  of  our  Atissivns:    Being  the  Story  of  the  Life  and 
Labours  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Coke,  London,  1871. 

2  Moistcr,    A  History  of   Wesleyan    Missions  in   nil   Farts  of  flic   World, 
London,  1871. 


AMERICA  203 

not  free  from  superficiality,  although  it  has  supplied  many- 
examples  of  brave  and  joyful  suffering  for  the  faith,  especially 
in  the  times  of  slavery.  Along  with  great  self-sacrifice  for 
the  church  there  goes  much  moral  laxity,  which  has  not  been 
overcome  even  by  the  repeated  revivals,  the  religious  value  of 
which  has  been  often  too  sanguinely  overestimated.  The  great 
diligence  which  has  been  applied  to  the  education  of  the 
Christian  negroes  has  produced  much  good  fruit,  but  also  much 
distasteful  caricature. 

142.  Third  in  order  came  the  English  Baptists,  who  soon 
developed  great  activity,  which  was  energetically  directed  not 
only  to  the  mitigation  of  the  lot  of  the  slaves,  but  also  to  their 
liberation.  Among  their  missionaries,  Thomas  Burchell  and 
William  Knibb 1  are  especially  pre-eminent,  fearless  men  who 
could  be  wearied  by  no  calumnies  or  suffering,  and  whose  zeal 
contributed  not  a  little  to  the  carrying  out  of  emancipation 
in  the  British  West  Indian  possessions.  The  Baptist  Mission 
began  its  work  in  Jamaica  in  1813,  following  in  the  steps  of 
an  original  negro  from  Virginia,  G.  Liele,  who  had  laboured 
in  Kingston  since  1783  and  had  gathered  a  congregation,  which 
under  his  successor  Killick,  also  a  negro,  increased  before  1830 
to  a  membership  of  several  thousands.  Under  Burchell  and 
Knibb  the  Baptist  Mission  advanced  rapidly.  In  1831  it  had 
already  10,800  full  church  members,  and  by  1842  this  number 
had  increased  to  24,000  (about  100,000  Christians)  in  over 
123  congregations,  which  joined  together  to  form  the  Jamaica 
Baptist  Union,  and  were  supported  almost  entirely  from  their 
own  resources.2 

There  are  now  186  congregations  with  35,000  members, 
who  represent  a  Christian  community  of  115,000.  There  was 
a  great  revival  in  1861,  which,  however,  extended  far  beyond 
Baptist  circles,  and  was  much  talked  of  at  the  time.  A 
negro  rebellion  took  place  in  1865,  in  which  the  whites 
far  surpassed  the  blacks  in  cruelty.  Besides  the  mission 
in  Jamaica,  the  Baptists  have  also  missions  in  Trinidad,  the 
Turks  Islands,  San  Domingo,  and  the  Bahamas,  which  to- 
gether have  6000  church  members  (19,000  Christians).  These 
congregations,  too,  contribute  a  considerable  share  of  the 
money  needed  for  their  support.  There  appears,  however, 
to  be  a  want  of  capable  negro  pastors.  Perhaps  part  of 
the  blame  is  to  be  attributed  to  an  erroneous  method  of 
education,  characterised  by  an  excess  of  subject  matter.     The 

1  F.  W.  Burchell,  Life  of  Rev.  Thomas  Burchell,  London,  1849.  H  in  ton, 
Memoirs  of  Rev.  W.  Knibb,  London,  1847. 

-  Underbill,  The  West  Indies  :  their  Social  and  Religious  Condition,  London, 
1S62. 


204  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

religious  life  of  the  Baptist  Christians,  like  that  of  the 
Methodists,  moves  up  and  down  in  revival  fashion.  At 
present  there  seems  to  be  an  ebb,  which  gives  occasion  for 
much  regret. 

143.  In  British  West  Indies  by  far  the  greatest  number  of 
the  coloured  people  belong  to  the  Church  of  England,  which 
has  here  a  complete  episcopal  organisation,  and  stands  only 
in  a  partial  missionary  connection  with  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  Before  the  founding,  in  1824,  of 
the  first  Anglican  bishopric,  the  Church  Missionary  Society 
had  begim  in  1819  a  mission  in  Antigua,  which  was  soon 
extended  to  Jamaica  and  Trinidad,  but  was  given  up  again  in 
1839,  as  the  Colonial  State  Church  became  more  organised. 
At  first  the  mission  of  this  church  and  its  clergy  had  not 
much  to  show.  These  gentlemen,  indeed,  performed  baptisms 
enough,  but  gave  themselves  little  concern  about  the  education 
and  care  of  the  negroes,  who  in  consequence  did  not  respect 
the  clergy,  and  in  particular  saw  in  them  the  allies  of  the  slave- 
holding  party.  It  was  therefore  not  surprising  that  both  the 
religious  and  the  moral  life  of  the  numerous  negroes  who  be- 
longed to  the  official  Colonial  Church  stood  on  a  miserably  low 
level.  After  emancipation,  however,  a  change  began  which  led 
gradually  to  better  conditions.  Meantime  the  reports  afford 
too  little  material  for  us  to  form  a  reliable  judgment  concern- 
ing these ; a  even  the  organs  of  the  S.  P.  G.  give  only  sporadic 
and  unsatisfactory  notices.  There  may  be  some  450,000 
coloured  people  belonging  to  the  Church  of  England  in  its  six 
dioceses,2  of  whom  the  large  majority  belong  to  Jamaica,  the 
Windward  and  Leeward  Islands  (Barbadoes,  Antigua,  etc.). 
The  education  of  a  coloured  pastorate  according  to  sound 
methods  receives  careful  attention.  In  Jamaica  the  third  part 
of  the  Anglican  clergy  are  men  of  colour.  In  Anglican  circles, 
too,  an  independent  missionary  society  has  been  formed,  the 
West  Indian  Missionary  Association,  which  in  conjunction 
with  the  S.  P.  G.  sends  missionaries  to  West  Africa  (Eio 
Pongo).  The  considerable  State  grants  which  in  former 
times  came  to  the  Anglican  Colonial  Church  have  long  ceased, 

1  In  the  report  of  the  deputation  sent  by  the  C.  M.  S.  to  the  West  Indies  in 
the  beginning  of  1897,  to  procure  workers  for  their  West  African  Mission  from 
the  coloured  members  of  the  Anglican  Church  there,  it  is  said  (Intell.  1897, 
p.  294) :  "On  all  sides  it  was  said  to  us  that  the  coloured  Christians  are  wanting 
in  steadfastness,  that  superstition  and  immorality  prevail,  which  are  often 
associated  with  a  large  amount  of  emotionalism,  external  profession,  and 
regular  participation  in  public  worship." 

-  But  the  Anglican  Church  Province  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Primus 
embraces  also  Honduras  and  Guiana,  and  so  numbers  eight  dioceses. — Mission 
Field,  1895,  p.  32G  :  "History  and  Prospective  Work  of  the  West  Indian 
Church," 


AMERICA  205 

and  with  them  has  passed  away  the  unjust  church-tax,  which 
all  the  subjects  of  the  British  Crown  had  to  pay  to  this  church, 
whatever  denomination  they  might  themselves  belong  to. 

144.  Of  the  remaining  Protestant  Church  communions 
which  support  missions  in  the  West  Indies  we  mention  only 
the  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  who  in  1847  took  over 
the  mission  which  had  been  begun  in  Jamaica  by  the  Scottish 
Missionary  Society  in  1824,  and  soon  largely  extended  it. 
In  particular,  the  revival  of  1861  already  mentioned  increased 
considerably  the  number  of  church  members,  which  then, 
however,  declined  greatly  in  consequence  of  a  time  of  severe 
distress,  till  in  1868  a  new  period  of  success  began.  To-day 
this  solid  mission  [now  of  the  United  Free  Church]  has,  in 
Jamaica,  12,000,  and  in  Trinidad  700,  members  in  68  well- 
organised  congregations,  who  contribute  the  large  sum  of 
£10,500  yearly  for  church  purposes,  and  so  are  well  advanced 
towards  financial  independence.  Though  much  is  done  for 
higher  school  education,  and  though  there  is  even  a  theological 
school  which  sends  out  capable  coloured  pastors,  yet  there  is 
quite  intelligibly  an  unwillingness  to  force  on  separation  from 
the  home  church.  Over  fifty  years  ago  the  Presbyterian  Mis- 
sion in  Jamaica  originated  the  Old  Calabar  mission  in  "West 
Africa,  which  was  then,  however,  undertaken  by  the  church 
in  Scotland.1 

145.  The  total  number  of  the  evangelical  coloured  popula- 
tion of  the  West  Indies,  including  the  imported  coolies,  is 
much  greater  than  was  formerly  supposed,  and  amounts  to 
at  least  840,000  souls.  Jamaica,  and  most  of  the  Lesser 
Antilles,  may  be  considered,  on  the  whole,  as  Christianised, 
although  there  are  still  heathen  enough,  and  the  Christians 
are  much  in  need  of  an  elevation  of  their  religious,  and  especi- 
ally of  their  moral,  life.  The  formation  of  the  mission  Pro- 
vinces into  fully  independent  church  Provinces,  an  end  which 
is  earnestly  sought  after  by  all  the  missions  in  that  field,  is 
hindered  by  circumstances  the  removal  of  which,  if  it  is 
attained  at  all,  cannot  be  expected  within  a  measurable  time. 
These  are,  besides  the  inconstancy  of  the  negro  character,  its 
still  greater  corruption  by  reason  of  long  slavery,  and  the 
severance  of  the  people  from  their  natural  environment  by 
their  removal  from  their  native  land.  Even  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  which  forms  the  most  important  epoch  in  the  history 

1  Goldie,  Calabar  and  its  Mission,  Edinburgh,  1890.  [It  may  also  be  men- 
tioned that  this  church  alone,  of  all  the  churches  in  Jamaica,  has  begun  a 
special  mission  to  the  new  heathen  population  of  the  island,  the  14,000  coolies 
from  India.  Five  trained  East  Indian  catechists  are  at  work  among  them, 
under  the  superintendence  of  a  former  Indian  missionary,  and  the  results  of 
the  mission  in  four  years  have  been  surprisingly  great. — Ed.] 


206  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  the  West  Indies,  could  not  remove  these  evils.  Besides 
the  economic  difficulties  which  followed  on  emancipation,  and 
which,  so  far  from  having  been  overcome,  are  only  now  felt 
in  their  real  magnitude,  slavery  almost  entirely  destroyed 
the  marriage  relation  and  family  life,  so  that  up  to  the  present 
day  these  are  still  very  defective,  while  the  mere  community  of 
colour  has  not  yet  produced  any  feeling  of  national  community 
among  the  masses  of  individuals.  Since  the  emancipation  of 
the  slaves,  a  growing  number  of  Asiatic  coolies  have  been  im- 
ported into  the  West  Indies,  among  whom  a  zealous  and  not 
unsuccessful  work  is  carried  on  by  the  most  of  the  missionary 
societies  there.  But  the  fluctuating  character  of  this  popu- 
lation makes  it  difficult  to  form  them  into  a  church. 

145a.  The  Catholic  Mission,  which  began  in  the  West  Indies  im- 
mediately after  the  discovery  of  America,  has  long  since  ceased  operations 
in  the  chief  districts  occupied  in  those  days.  Notably  the  Spanish  pos- 
sessions, and  also  a  part  of  the  later  French  possessions,  because  they  were 
outwardly  completely  Eomanised,  were  long  ago  loosed  from  missionary 
control,  and  incorporated  as  terrm  Gatholicce  with  the  Romish  hierarchy 
proper,  under  the  direct  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope.  They  are  therefore 
also  excluded  from  missionary  statistics.  The  religious  and  moral  con- 
dition of  the  great  majority  of  these  (about  4J)  millions  of  nominal 
Catholics  is  indeed  such  a  sad  one  that  even  Romish  historians  blush  for 
them.  Here— as  in  South  America — the  Catholic  hierarchy  must  bear 
the  heavy  reproach  that  it  has  allowed  a  great  body  of  Christians,  Roman- 
ised in  the  most  mechanical  and  wholesale  manner,  to  fall  into  neglect. 

According  to  Missiones  CathoHcce,  there  are  to-day  but  4  West  Indian 
districts  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Propaganda  :  1.  The  Archbishopric 
of  Port  of  Spain,  which  includes  the  South -i Eastern  Lesser  Antilles  from 
Trinidad  to  St.  Lucia,  with  180,000  Catholics  ;  2.  The  diocese  of  Roseau, 
i.e.  the  Central  Antilles  from  Dominica  to  the  Danish  Islands  in  the 
north,  with  50,000  Catholics  ;  and  3.  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Curasao 
(Dominicans),  embracing  the  Dutch  Antilles,  with  38,000  Catholics.1 
4.  To  these  must  be  added  about  13,000  Catholics  in  the  Apostolic 
Vicariate  of  Jamaica ;  so  that  altogether,  after  deducting  the  Catholic 
white  population,  there  are  at  most  220,000  such  Catholic  converts  from 
heathenism  in  the  West  Indies  who  may  be  regarded  as  the  fruit  of 
missionary  work  proper  during  perhaps  the  last  two  centuries ;  neverthe- 
less the  great  want  of  completeness  of  the  very  defective  sources  does  not 
allow  any  guarantee  for  the  accuracy  of  this  estimate. 

146.  Central  America,  the  narrow  bridge  which  connects 
the  two  compact  halves  of  America,  consists  of  five  States — 
Guatemala,  San  Salvador,  Honduras,  Nicaragua,  and  Costa 
Rica.  Its  population  of  about  four  millions  is  made  up  of 
Indian  aborigines,  half-breeds,  and  negroes,  and  is  nominally 
almost  entirely  Catholic.  Besides  several  small  North  Amer- 
ican and  West  Indian  societies,  whose  main  work  is  evangelistic, 

1  I  take  the  figures  as  they  are  given  in  the  Catholic  source,  although  in 
ii  i  vi  iy  pages  they  are  declared  to  be  inaccurate,  and  also  include  the  Catholic 
white  population. 


AMERICA  207 

and  amongst  which  is  a  special  Central  American  Mission  founded 
in  1891,  and  emanating  from  Texas,  the  Anglicans  (S.  P.  G.), 
the  Wesleyans,  and  the  Moravians  are  engaged  in  labouring 
amongst  the  various  coloured  people  with  a  view  to  their 
Christianisation,  especially  in  British  Honduras  (Belize),  the 
republic  of  Euattan,  upon  the  island  of  that  name,  and  the 
Moskito  Coast.  The  result  of  their  labours  is  over  10,000 
Christians,  of  whom  the  half  belong  to  the  16  stations 
of  the  Moravians.  On  the  Moskito  Eeserve,  the  chief  Mor- 
avian field,  which  until  a  short  time  ago  was  a  self-governed 
State  under  English  protection,  but  has  now  been  annexed  by 
Nicaragua,  the  chief  station  is  Bluefields ;  and  amongst  the 
Indians,  Ephrata,  to  which  Dakura  was  added  in  1893.  The 
seizure  of  the  country  by  the  Catholic  State  of  Nicaragua  has 
endangered  the  mission  not  a  little.  In  particular,  the  school 
work  has  been  almost  paralysed  by  the  introduction  of  Spanish 
as  the  language  of  instruction. 

As  Catholic  mission  field  only  the  apostolic  vicariate  of  Honduras  is 
mentioned  in  the  Miss.  Cath.  (S.J.).     Catholici  supputantur,  19,000. 


Section  5.  South  America 

147.  The  great  South  America,  with  its  population  of 
about  38  millions,  made  up  of  whites,  half-breeds,  and 
Indians,  is  nominally  Catholicised,  with  the  exception  of  a 
heathen  Indian  remnant  of  l£-2  millions.  The  Catholicism, 
indeed,  is  of  a  kind  that,  according  to  even  Catholic 
testimonies,  is  more  heathen  than  Christian,  and  its  morality 
is  on  a  sadly  low  level.  There  are  many  crosses,  but  no 
word  of  the  Cross ;  many  saints,  but  no  followers  of  Christ.1 
The  original  inhabitants  were  by  no  means,  as  in  the  West 
Indies,  exterminated  by  the  conquering  Spaniards,  but  every- 
where have  been  enslaved ;  and  in  places,  for  example  in  Peru, 
flourishing  civilisations  have  been  destroyed.  Of  the  aborigines 
proper,  there  are  believed  to  be  still  about  5  millions :  the 
remaining  population  is  a  mixed  one  of  European  colonists, 
Indians,  and  Africans,  affected  with  all  the  flaws  of  half-breeds. 
Since  the  wars  of  independence  (1809-1824)  the  territories 
which  were  formerly  Spanish  have  been  formed  into  nine 
republics.  To  these  were  added  in  1889  the  United  States  of 
Brazil,  into  which  the  former  empire  of  Portuguese  descent 
was  transformed.  Almost  all  of  these  free  States  are  still 
subject  to  anarchy  and  revolutions, — a  fact  which  is  as  dubious 

1  Warneck,    Protest.    BeleucMung  der  rbmischen  Angriffe  auf  die   evang. 
Heidcnmission,  Giitersloh,  1884,  pp.  121  and  425. 


208  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

a  proof  of  their  political  maturity  as  of  Eoman  Catholic 
capacity  for  the  education  of  nations.  The  Spaniards  and 
Portuguese  have  kept  house  for  four  centuries  in  South 
America  without  rivals,  and  what  a  difference  there  is  be- 
tween their  sphere  of  government  and  the  Protestant  North 
America ! 

148.  South  America  has  been  described,  with  respect  to  evan- 
gelical missions,  as  "  the  neglected  continent," — not  unjustly, 
for,  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  its  northern  margin  (Guiana) 
and  its  southern  extremity  (Tierra  del  Fuego),  it  has  no  proper 
evangelical  mission  field.  Evangelistic  work,  indeed,  is  carried 
on  by  a  number  of  societies,  particularly  from  North  America, 
and  by  many  isolated  agencies  among  the  catholic  population 
of  all  the  South  American  States,  and  about  30,000  Protestant 
church  members  are  said  to  have  been  gathered  out;1  but 
there  is  no  proper  evangelical  mission  to  the  heathen,  except 
in  Paraguay,  Argentine,  and  Chili,  and  in  these  only  very 
recently,  and  within  very  modest  compass. 

On  the  other  hand,  Dutch  and  British  Guiana  forms  a  large 
and  fruitful  evangelical  mission  field,  the  former  being  worked 
by  the  Moravians,  the  latter  by  Anglicans  and  Methodists. 

149.  Dutch  Guiana,  better  known  as  Surinam,  as  fruitful 
as  it  is  malarial,  has  a  population  of  only  some  80,000,  com- 
posed of  old  Indian  remnants  (Arawaks),  imported  negroes, 
half-breeds,  Chinese  and  Indian  coolies,  and  about  2000  whites 
in  varied  combination.  Almost  half  of  the  people  live  in 
Paramaribo,  the  capital ;  the  other  half  are  widely  scattered 
through  the  colony,  and  about  9000  of  them  have  their  home 
in  the  bush  country  with  its  covering  of  primeval  forest. 
These  bush  negroes  are  the  descendants  of  the  imported  Africans, 
who  saved  themselves  from  slavery  by  flight,  and  after  long 
struggles  won  for  themselves  a  position  independent  of  the 
colonial  government,  which  they  maintain  till  the  present 
time.  Slavery  existed  till  18G3  ;  since  its  abolition  the  industry 
of  the  colony  has  declined,  and  the  gaining  of  freedom  has  not 
always  proved  a  blessing  to  the  former  plantation  hands.  The 
country  is  dominated  by  a  Jewish  plutocracy,  which  is  often 
a  cause  of  grief  to  the  mission.  Surinam  is  one  of  the  mission 
fields  that  have  demanded  the  greatest  sacrifices.  Of  360  men 
and  women  sent  out  up  to  the  present  time,  the  unhealthy 
climate  has  brought  almost  the  half  to  an  early  grave.  The 
Moravians  have  laboured  here  since  1738,  with  temporary 
interruptions  and  repeated  abandonments  of  individual  stations. 
After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  among  the  negroes  in  Berbice, 

1  Mis  ion  try  Review,  1803,  p.  8(>0.     Protestant  Missions  in  South  America, 
published  by  the  S.V.M.U.,  New  York,  1900. 


AMERICA  209 

they  began  work  among  the  Arawaks,  and  the  first  converts 
were  baptized  at  Pilgerhut  in  1748.  Special  blessing  attended 
the  work  of  Missionary  Schumann  (d.  1760),  who  was  the 
author  of  an  Arawak  grammar  and  dictionary.  The  flourishing 
work,  however,  was  disturbed,  and  in  part  destroyed,  by  a 
plague  and  by  a  rebellion  of  the  bush  negroes.  This  gave 
rise  to  a  mission  to  the  negroes  in  the  bush  country,  in  the 
capital,  and  gradually  also  on  the  plantations.  The  first,  as 
arduous  on  account  of  the  difficulties  occasioned  by  their 
associations  as  it  was  dangerous  on  account  of  the  unhealthy 
climate,  was,  it  is  true,  repeatedly  stopped ;  but  it  was  always 
taken  up  again  by  brave  workers,  both  on  the  upper  Surinam 
(Gansee,  Bergendal)  and  on  the  Sarawacca  (Maripastoon, 
Kwattahede).  In  1778  the  first  negro  church  was  erected 
in  Paramaribo.  Most  of  the  plantation  stations  have  been 
founded  only  in  this  century,  particularly  between  1835  and 
1860.  The  emancipation  of  the  slaves  was  followed  by  a 
great  movement  of  the  negroes  to  the  capital,  where  there 
are  now  about  15,000  Christians  gathered  in  three  congrega- 
tions. In  very  recent  times  a  mission  has  also  been  begun 
among  the  Auka  negroes  on  the  Cottica  and  the  Marowyne 
(Wanhatti,  Albina).  At  present  the  Surinam  Moravian  Mis- 
sion has  under  its  care  29,700  coloured  Christians  in  connection 
with  18  chief  stations.  The  superstitious  heathenism  of  the 
negroes  is  dying  away  more  and  more,  and  confidence  in  Chris- 
tianity is  increasing.  Unfortunately  the  moral  condition  of 
the  Christians  is  still  very  defective,  especially  in  regard  to 
the  relations  of  the  sexes.  In  the  time  of  slavery  there  were 
no  lawful  marriages,  and  the  custom  of  irregular  marriages 
still  holds.  In  spite  of  all  the  wise  discipline  of  the  mission- 
aries, and  of  the  law  now  conferring  a  civil  status,  the  Christian 
celebration  and  observance  of  marriage  has  not  yet  become  a 
universal  custom.  Besides  this,  the  unfavourable  social  con- 
ditions render  it  difficult  to  train  native  workers,  although 
there  have  not  been  wanting  some  admirable  helpers,  such 
as  John  King.  In  very  recent  times  much  difficulty  has 
been  caused  by  the  Catholic  counter-mission,  which  has  some 
12,000  adherents. 

150.  British  Guiana  is  divided  into  three  counties,  taking 
their  names  from  the  rivers  Berbice,  Demerara,  and  Essequibo. 
It  has  a  total  population  of  295,000  among  whom  there  are 
now  only  about  20,000  Indian  aborigines.  The  number  is 
made  up  mainly  of  about  100,000  negroes,  whose  ancestors 
were  brought  in  as  slaves ;  of  about  125,000  Indian  and 
Chinese  coolies,  who  were  brought  in  after  emancipation ; 
and  of  half-breeds, — once  more  a  very  composite  population, 
forming  a  difficult  mission  field. 

14 


2IO  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  London  Missionary  Society  began  work  here  in  1807 
among  the  plantation  slaves,  at  the  invitation  of  a  pious 
Dutch  planter,  Post,  who,  unfortunately,  found  among  his 
class  very  few  like-minded  with  himself.  The  first  agent 
was  the  excellent  missionary  Wray  (d.  1837),  and  the 
work  rapidly  began  to  flourish.  The  majority  of  the  slave- 
holders were  bitter  enemies  of  the  mission ;  and  when,  in 
1823,  there  was  a  rising  of  the  negroes,  who  believed  that 
their  masters  were  concealing  from  them  resolutions  of  the 
British  Parliament  giving  them  the  prospect  of  liberation, 
the  slave-holders  used  this  opportunity  to  condemn  the  suc- 
cessful missionary  Smith  to  death  as  the  instigator  of  the 
rebellion.  He  was  indeed  pardoned,  but  in  consequence  of 
ill-treatment  and  anxiety  he  died  in  prison  in  1824,  before  his 
perfect  innocence  was  judicially  established.1  Notwithstanding, 
the  work  went  on  again  successfully  from  the  year  1829 ; 
gradually  there  were  established  7  stations  in  Demerara, 
and  9  in  Berbice ;  and  before  1838  the  number  of  the 
black  Christians  rose  to  18,000.  In  that  over-hasty  zeal  for 
the  independence  of  congregations  which  characterises  the 
London  Missionary  Society,  it  withdrew  more  and  more  from 
this  field,  although  no  satisfactory  substitute  could  be  found 
among  the  coloured  people  for  the  European  missionaries. 
Part  of  the  congregations  formed  themselves  into  a  Congrega- 
tional Union,  which  has  to-day  about  3200  church  members, 
while  another  part  have  sought  connection  with  the  Church 
of  England. 

In  1815  the  Wesleyans  entered  upon  the  work,  their  first 
missionary  having  been  banished  from  the  country  in  1805. 
Throughout  the  three  counties  they  have  laid  down,  one  after 
the  other,  5  chief  stations,  .and  they  have  a  native  East  Indian 
working  as  coolie  missionary  among  the  Asiatic  labourers 
of  some  80  plantations.  The  whole  Guiana  Mission,  with 
its  total  church  membership  of  about  5700  (20,000  Christians), 
is  attached  to  the  Methodist  West  Indian  Conference.  In 
addition  to  them,  the  Plymouth  Brethren  carry  on  work  from 
Georgetown,  the  capital,  as  centre,  at  16  different  places, 
among  negroes  and  Indians,  and  have  about  1400  church 
members.  The  way  was  opened  up  for  them  among  the 
Indians  by  Meyer,  a  devoted  independent  missionary.  Since 
1878  the  Moravian  Mission  has,  by  the  agency  of  two  native 

1  When  Smith  presented  himself  to  the  Governor  in  1820,  the  latter  received 
him  with  dark  unfriendly  looks,  and  said  to  him  sharply  and  crossly  :  "  If  you 
take  it  into  your  head  to  teach  a  negro  to  read,  and  I  hear  of  it,  I  will  hunt 
you  out  of  the  colony." — The  London  Miss.  Rep.  of  the  Proceedings  against  the 
late  Rev.  J.  Smith  of  Demerara,  London,  1825. 


AMERICA  211 

preachers,  cared  for  a  Christian  congregation  of  immigrants 
from  the  West  Indies,  numbering  900  souls,  on  the  Grahams- 
hall  plantation,  and  a  dependency  of  it  in  Demerara. 

The  most  extensive  work,  however,  is  that  done  by  the 
Anglican  Church,  which  has  zealously  given  itself  to  the  care 
of  the  whole  coloured  population,  including  the  Indians,  and 
reckons — probably  too  highly — about  150,000  (over  20,000 
communicants)  of  them  as  belonging  to  it.  After  working 
for  a  short  time  among  the  Indians,  the  C.  M.  S.  handed  over 
this  field  to  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  sent  out,  in  the  person  of  the 
gifted  Brett,  a  missionary  of  great  pre-eminence,  to  whom  it 
was  granted  to  labour  twenty-six  years  in  that  dangerous 
climate.  At  first  among  the  Arawaks,  and  afterwards  also 
among  some  other  deeply  degraded  Indian  tribes,  he  accom- 
plished so  much  by  his  preaching,  Bible  -  translation,  and 
pictures,  that  the  visiting  bishop  was  filled  with  astonishment. 
His  work  was  continued  by  faithful  hands,  and  so  to-day  there 
are  24  Anglican  Indian  stations  with  some  17,000  Christians.1 
But  the  negroes,  the  Asiatic  coolies,  and  the  half-breeds  have 
not  been  neglected.  The  Anglican  Colonial  Church  had  the 
good  fortune  to  possess  in  Bishop  Austin,  who  was  also  Primus 
of  the  West  Indies,  a  chief  shepherd  who,  from  1842  till  his 
death  in  1892,  had  as  much  at  heart  the  spiritual  care  of  the 
Christians  in  his  diocese  as  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  It 
is  true  that  the  average  level  of  the  coloured  Christians  in 
respect  to  religion  and  morals  is  still  rather  low,  and  there  is 
still  a  deficiency  of  capable  native  helpers,  as  well  as  of  liberality 
towards  the  church,  which  is  due  not  to  poverty  alone,  but 
also  to  the  fact  that  the  Christians  belonging  to  the  State 
church  are  accustomed  to  receive  their  means  of  support  from 
the  Government ;  but  if  one  takes  into  account  the  unfavour- 
able conditions  under  which  the  mission  here  operates  on  a 
demoralised  human  material,  standing,  moreover,  on  a  low 
plane  of  civilisation,  the  result  is  still,  as  in  Surinam,  very 
considerable. 

British  Guiana  forms  an  apostolic  vicariat,  in  which  23,500  Catholici 
recensentur  (S.J.). 

Quite  alone  the  Catholic  mission  dominates  French  Guiana  (Cayenne), 
which  is  registered  as  an  apostolic  prefecture,  in  which  are  29,000 
Catholics  (Weltclerus.     W.  K.). 

151.  Apart  from  the  still  young,  isolated,  and  small  but 
steadily  increasing  missions  amongst  the  heathen  Indians  of 
Brazil,  Paraguay,  Chili,  Patagonia,  and  recently  also  of  Bolivia 
and  Ecuador,  we  find  the  last  of  the  evangelical  missions  in 

1  Brett,  Indian  Missions  in  Guiana,  London,  1851  The  Indian  Tribes  of 
Guiana:  their  Condition  and  Habits,  London.  1S68. 


212  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

America  at  its  extreme  southern  point,  in  the  inhospitable 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  the  population  of  which,  divided  into  three 
tribes,  numbers  only  a  few  thousand  souls,  and  stands  probably 
on  the  very  lowest  level  of  human  civilisation.  To  begin  a 
mission  among  the  wild  natives  of  this  desert  country  was  one 
of  the  boldest  undertakings  of  Christian  love ;  and  since  this 
love,  in  spite  of  the  tragic  history  which  made  all  its  sacrifices 
seem  for  long  to  have  been  offered  in  vain,  was  never  dis- 
couraged, and  has  at  last  begun  to  gain  the  victory,  this  page 
of  the  history  of  evangelical  missions,  with  its  record  of  heroic 
courage,  is  worthy  of  special  mention,  even  though  it  be 
written  with  numbers  which  are  but  small.1 

A  pious  English  naval  officer,  Allen  Gardiner,  in  a  voyage 
in  1822,  became  acquainted  with  the  deep  moral  and  spiritual 
degradation  of  the  aborigines  of  Southern  America ;  and  in  his 
ardent  missionary  zeal  he  found  no  rest  till,  after  various  vain 
attempts  and  a  prolonged  activity  as  an  independent  mis- 
sionary in  South  Africa,  he  succeeded  in  1844  in  establishing  a 
Patagonian  Missionary  Society,  which  was  afterwards  enlarged 
to  the  South  American  Missionary  Society.  The  two  first 
attempts  issued  in  failure,  and,  after  untold  hardships,  he  had 
to  return  to  England,  robbed  by  the  natives  of  all  his  posses- 
sions. The  third  attempt,  which  he  made  in  1850  along  with 
six  brave  companions,  ended  in  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
expedition :  the  hostile  Indians  withdrew  and  left  them  with- 
out the  means  of  sustenance,  and  all  seven  perished  of  hunger. 
Nothing  more  pathetic  could  be  read  than  the  journal  of  these 
devoted  heroes,  which  was  afterwards  found.  But  this  mourn- 
ful ending  gave  the  first  real  stimulus  to  the  English  friends  of 
missions  to  carry  forward  the  work.  At  the  end  of  October  of 
the  same  year  a  new  missionary  expedition  set  sail  in  the 
mission  ship  Allen  Gardiner,  and  succeeded  not  only  in  found- 
ing a  station  on  Keppel  Island,  in  the  Falkland  group,  but  also 
in  bringing  to  it  Tierra- del -Fuegians,  and  by  their  agency 
entering,  as  it  appeared,  into  friendly  relations  with  the  in- 
habitants of  the  mainland.  Then  in  1860,  during  a  visit,  the 
whole  crew  of  the  ship  were  treacherously  surprised  and  put  to 
death,  with  the  exception  of  the  cook,  who  saved  himself.  In 
spite  of  this,  the  work  was  not  given  up.  In  1862,  Missionary 
Stirling,  who  in  1867  was  designated  Bishop  of  Falkland, 
again  established  relations  with  the  Tierra  del  Fuegians,  and 
in  1868  he  succeeded  in  establishing  at  Ushuwaia  the  first 
mainland  station,  at  which  in  1872  the  first  converts  of  the 
Tierra  -  del  -  Fuegians,  36  in  number,  were  baptized.  The 
station  at   Tekonika  (or   Lagutoia)  was   added   in  1888,  and 

1  March,  A  Memoir  of  the  late  Captain  Allen  Gardiner,  London,  1874. 


AMERICA  213 

now  forms  the  centre  of  the  mainland  mission.  All  the  three 
stations  have  now  been  transformed  into  fairly  tidy  villages,  pro- 
gressing in  civilisation,  which  excite  the  admiration  of  strangers. 
In  these  there  are  altogether  over  200  baptized  Christians. 
The  difficult  language  has  been  mastered ;  separate  portions  of 
the  Bible  have  been  translated,  and  5  natives  are  already  at 
work  as  teachers.  On  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  South  American  Missionary  Society,  the  British 
Admiralty  gave  expression  to  its  thankful  recognition  of  the 
transformation  which  its  missionaries  had  brought  about  among 
the  Tierra-del-Fuegians.  Already,  at  an  earlier  date,  Darwin 
had  written  to  the  same  society :  "  The  results  of  the  Tierra  del 
Fuego  Mission  are  perfectly  marvellous,  and  surprise  me  the 
more  that  I  had  prophesied  for  it  complete  failure." 

There  is  in  Patagonia  an  extensive  Catholic  mission,  which  was  begun 
indeed  by  the  old  Franciscans,  but  was  taken  up  anew  in  1875  by  the 
Salesians.  In  the  two  dioceses  of  Patagonia  (the  apostolic  vicariate  and 
the  apostolic  prefecture)  there  are  in  all  93,000  Catholics,  of  whom, 
however,  only  17,000  are  ranked  as  indigence. 

Summary 

152.  Summing  up  the  statistical  result  of  evangelical 
missions  in  America,  we  find  it  to  be  in  round  numbers  some- 
what as  follows : — 


Greenland,  Labrador, 

Alaska 

•         •         • 

.     20,000  Christians 

.     49,500 

United  States — 

Indians 

,         , 

90,000 

II 

Negroes 1 

. 

.      7,225,000 

M 

Chinese 

,         , 

3,000 

7,302.000 

West  Indies 

•         •         . 

840,000 

Central  and  South  America . 

.         . 

195,000 

Total        .         8,422,500  Christians. 


The  total  numerical  result  of  the  present  Catholic  missions  to  the 
heathen  in  the  whole  of  America  amounts  to  633,000  souls. 

1  Along  with  Grundemann  (Kleine  Miss.-Geogr.  u.  Statistik),  I  have  decided 
to  include  the  North  American  negro  Christians  in  the  missionary  statistics. 
If  the  West  Indian  negro  Christians  are  included,  there  is  no  intelligible 
ground  for  excluding  those  of  the  United  States.  The  one  as  well  as  the  other 
are  the  result  of  the  missionary  work  of  the  present  period  among  the  heathen. 
But  I  diner  from  Grundemann  very  materially  as  regards  the  numbers.  When 
he  says  (p.  176,  note  5),  "  Even  as  the  proofs  are  being  corrected,  I  am  informed 
on  reliable  authority  that  the  number  of  evangelical  negroes  in  the  United 
States  can  hardly  be  less  than  8  millions,"  and  adds,  "which  I  myself  readily 
believe,"  he  should  not  have  left  it  standing  at  4  millions,  the  number  he  had 
put  down.  I  have  only  entered  it  as  7\  millions,  although  7£  millions  is  pro- 
bably the  correct  number.  On  the  other  hand,  I  have  somewhat  reduced  my 
former  number  for  South  America,  through  a  reduction  of  the  statistical  figures 
for  British  Guiana. 


CHAPTER  II 

AFEICA 

Introductory 

153.  From  America  we  pass  to  Africa,  so  closely  connected 
with  it  through  the  slave  trade.  Till  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  the  survey  of  African  missions  meant  hardly  more  than 
a  glance  round  the  continent,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
words ;  for,  apart  from  South  Africa,  it  was  almost  exclusively 
on  the  coast  region  that  missions  had  set  foot,  and  even 
there  the  interior  had  heen  penetrated  no  more  than  a  few 
days'  journey.  And  this  was  not  to  be  wondered  at.  Africa 
was  not  only  the  dark,  but  also  the  closed  continent,  and  its 
waterways  hardly  gave  access  to  more  than  its  margin.  The 
rest  of  the  continent  formed  an  inaccessible  Colossus,  and  it  is 
not  a  missionary  duty  to  open  up  the  doors  of  the  world, 
but  to  go  where  they  have  already  been  opened.1  Under  the 
providential  leading  of  God,  the  desire  of  knowledge  and  the 
instinct  of  acquisition  open  the  doors  of  the  world  by  the 
agency  of  explorers,  merchants,  and  colonial  politicians ;  and 
this  door-opening  is  the  missionary  contribution,  made  for  the 
most  part  unconsciously,  and  even  involuntarily,  by  the  world. 
Ever  and  again,  indeed, — and  this  has  in  a  very  conspicuous 
way  been  the  case  in  Africa, — it  has  been  missionaries  who,  by 
the  exploration  of  unknown  territories,  have  literally  made 
new  paths  for  missions;  but  on  the  whole  this  work  has  fallen 
to  worldly  forces. 

Since  the  eighth  decade  of  the  19th  century  the  appointed 
time  in  the  world's  history  for  the  opening  up  of  Africa  has 
come,  brought  on  chiefly  through  the  mighty  impulse  given  by 
Livingstone,  the  prince  of  African  explorers  ;  and,  in  proportion 
as  the  closed  continent  has  been  opened  up,  it  has  also  become 
a  mission  field.  The  interior  is  accessible  now,  not  only  from 
the  south,  but  also  from  the  east  and  from  the  west,  and  the 
result  of  the  making  of  ways  into  the  heart  of  the  Dark 
1  Warneck,  Ev.  Mitsionslehre,  iii.  144. 

214 


AFRICA  215 

Continent  has  been  an  abundance  of  Central  African  missions. 
The  fact  that  at  present  no  other  continent  can  show  so  many 
new  mission  fields,  and  these  occupied  at  great  expense,  affords 
a  very  tangible  proof  of  the  inward  connection  subsisting 
between  the  opening  up  of  the  world  and  missionary  enter- 
prise. We  must  begin  our  survey,  however,  not  with  these 
recent  undertakings,  but  with  the  older  coast  mission  fields  in 
the  west,  south,  and  east.1 

Section  1.  The  West  Coast 

154.  The  oldest  African  evangelical  mission  field,  next  to 
South  Africa,  is  found  on  the  west  coast  from  Senegal  to  the 
Congo.  In  this  far-stretching  field,  English,  German,  American, 
Swedish,  French,  and  also  many  native  missionaries  are  at 
work,  at  more  than  100  chief  stations,  representing  some  20 
societies,  and  having  about  178,000  converted  heathen  in  their 
care.  They  are  working  under  very  varied  conditions,  and  with 
varied  success,  everywhere  under  the  greatest  disadvantage 
from  a  deadly  climate,  in  the  midst  of  a  deeply  degraded 
fetichistic  heathenism,  holden  in  the  fear  of  spirits  and  the 
superstitions  of  witchcraft,  and  still  further  demoralised 
through  European  influences  in  the  widespread  gin  trade; 
and  they  are  working  under  a  growing  competition  on  the  part 
of  Mohammedanism,  which,  too,  is  always  pressing  nearer  to 
the  coast.  The  largest  part  of  this  region  consists  of  French, 
English,  German,  and  Portuguese  colonial  territory,  to  which 
has  to  be  added  the  Congo  Free  State,  which  belongs  to  the 
King  of  the  Belgians. 

155.  In  French  Senegambia,  in  contrast  to  the  north  of 
Africa,  which  has  a  population  of  another,  more  of  a  Caucasian, 
sort,  begins  the  zone  of  the  negro  race,  which,  again,  includes 
two,  or  rather  three,  families  of  peoples  considerably  different 
from  one  another.  Here  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  conducts, 
since  1863,  a  very  limited  evangelical  mission  at  two  stations, 
with  meagre  forces  and  in  the  face  of  many  hindrances ;  with 
its  frequent  changes  of  workers,  and  opposed  by  the  extensive 
Catholic  Mission,  it  makes  slow  progress. — Also  the  Wesleyan 
Mission,  existing  since  1820  in  the  little  confined  British  posses- 
sion of  Gambia,  and  staffed  for  the  most  part,  on  account  of  the 
unhealthy  climate,  by  coloured  workers,  seems,  with  its  scarcely 
2000  Christians,  not  to  be  prospering  properly,  and  is  now 

1  Noble,  The  Redemption  of  Africa :  a  Story  of  Civilisation ;  with  Maps, 
Statistical  Tables,  and  Select  Bibliography  of  the  Literature  of  African  Missions, 
New  York,  1899,  2  vols.  J.  Stewart,  Dawn  in  the  Dark  Continent,  Edinburgh, 
1903. 


2l6  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

practically  confined  to  Bathurst. — Farther  south  we  come  on 
the  third  small  evangelical  mission  on  the  Eio  Pongo,  in  what  is 
now  French  Guinea.  After  several  missionary  attempts  which 
were  afterwards  given  up,  a  mission  was  begun  in  1855  by 
coloured  missionaries  from  Barbadoes  in  the  West  Indies,  under 
the  nominal  supervision  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  has  gathered  some 
2000  negro  Christians  at  its  three  stations :  the  religious  and 
moral  condition  of  these  converts,  however,  seems  to  be  rather 
defective.  In  1892  this  mission  was  placed  under  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  Anglican  Bishop  of  Sierra  Leone,  and  has  been 
visited  by  him.  Literary  work,  especially  in  translation,  has 
been  done  to  a  small  extent  in  the  native  languages  in  all 
these  districts,  and  schools  are  held  throughout. 

156.  Sierra  Leone  is  the  first  great  evangelical  mission 
field  that  we  come  to.  It  is  a  British  colony,  having  been 
bought  by  the  African  Company  in  1790,  and  in  1808  handed 
over  to  the  Crown,  in  order  to  provide  a  place  of  settlement 
both  for  the  negro  soldiers  who  had  fought  on  the  side  of 
Britain  in  the  American  War  of  Independence  and  had 
received  their  freedom,  and  for  the  African  slaves  liberated  by 
the  British  Sea  Police  after  the  legal  abolition  of  the  slave 
trade.  The  first  attempts  that  were  made  among  the  black 
settlers  were  directed  to  civilisation  alone,  and  failed.  Then 
in  1804  the  C.  M.  S.  began  the  work  of  Christianisation  with 
German  missionaries,  among  whom  Nylander  and  Jansen1 
(called  by  the  English  Johnson)  were  pre-eminent.  Their 
efforts  were  at  first  grievously  hindered,  not  only  by  the 
deadly  climate,  but  still  more  by  the  disorderly  mass  of  human 
beings  slumped  together  out  of  many  tribes  and  languages. 
Up  to  1846,  50,000  liberated  slaves  were  brought  in.  The 
first  1100  among  whom  the  mission  began  its  work  spoke  22 
different  dialects ;  altogether  there  gradually  came  to  be,  it 
was  said,  117  different  tribes  represented  in  the  colony.2  In 
face  of  this  Babel  of  tongues  hardly  any  other  course  was  open 
than  to  introduce  English.  Another  hindrance  was  the  fact 
that  this  confused  mass,  being  destitute  of  the  slightest  feeling 
of  community,  lived  in  a  state  of  constant  conflict  among  them- 
selves, and  were  dull,  lazy,  and  in  the  last  degree  unchaste, 
besides  being  in  bondage,  without  exception,  to  heathenish 
superstition.  And  how  great  was  the  mortality  among  the 
missionaries ! — In  25  years  109  men  and  women  died.  And 
yet  all  these  difficulties  were  overcome.  Eepeatedly  the  Eng- 
lish officials  bore  witness  to  the  great  blessing  wrought  intel- 

1  Pierson,  Seven  Years  in  Sierra  Leone,  New  York,  1897. 
3  In  this  African  Babel  the  missionary  Kolle  afterwards  gathered  the  material 
lor  his  famous  Polyglotla  Africana,  London,  1854. 


AFRICA  217 

lectually,  morally,  and  industriously  through  the  work  of  the 
mission.  From  the  beginning  great  pains  were  taken  with 
school  work,  and  more  recently  higher  schools  and  seminaries 
were  begun,  among  which  Foorah  Bay  College,  which  has 
trained  many  able  preachers,  takes  the  first  place.  Its  be- 
stowal of  academic  degrees  is  certainly  very  flattering  for  the 
black  theologicals,  but  not  always  favourable  to  the  solidity 
of  their  education  or  to  their  humility.  At  the  present  time 
complaints  are  made  about  the  small  attendance.  In  the 
High  School,  too,  the  subjects  of  instruction  are  too  numerous 
and  the  aims  too  high.  In  1852  an  Anglican  bishopric  was 
established,  which  up  till  now  has  been  held  by  seven  bishops, 
and  in  1861  the  Sierra  Leone  Church,  which  at  that  time  had 
about  12,000  Anglican  members,  was  declared  independent, 
though  somewhat  prematurely,  by  the  directorate  of  the 
mission.  The  society,  however,  while  retaining  in  its  own 
hands  only  the  direction  of  the  higher  educational  institutions 
in  Freetown,  the  capital,  carries  on  a  mission  among  the 
heathen  Temnes  in  Port  Lokkoh,  and  at  two  other  places 
farther  inland.  The  Sierra  Leone  Church  is  doing  mis- 
sionary work  on  the  Bullom  peninsula  and  the  island  of 
Sherbro.     The  result  is  1400  native  Christians. 

Besides  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  English  Methodists,  so  far  back  as 
1814,  entered  into  the  work,  and,  in  spite  of  the  frequent  change 
of  workers,  attained  a  numerically  greater  result  than  the  Angli- 
cans,— at  the  cost,  however,  of  solidity  in  the  Christianity 
planted  by  them,  as  is  shown  already  by  the  great  fluctuations 
in  their  statistics,  which  indicate  at  one  time  7000  communi- 
cants and  at  a  subsequent  date  far  fewer.  Of  their  workers,  at 
present  only  one  is  a  European  (Christians,  22,000).  Besides 
these,  Lady  Huntingdon's  Connexion  numbers  1650  adherents, 
and  an  African  Methodist  community  5300  adherents ;  so  that 
of  the  population  of  the  colony  of  Sierra  Leone,  amounting  to 
some  75,000  souls,  42,000  are  evangelical  Christians,  who  are 
almost  entirely  under  the  spiritual  care  of  native  pastors.  The 
Catholic  mission  has  not  succeeded  in  gaining  much  of  a  footing. 
In  reference  to  the  condition  of  the  Sierra  Leone  Christians  in 
religion,  morals,  and  civilisation,  it  must  be  said  that,  along  with 
a  great  deal  of  mere  churchliness,  there  are  many  moral  defects 
and  much  that  is  but  the  outward  varnish  of  civilisation.  But 
in  spite  of  all  the  deficiencies,  which  are  greatly  exaggerated 
by  the  opponents  of  missions,  the  mere  existence  of  this 
energetic  colony,  which  has  developed  from  a  chaos  into  what 
is,  in  comparison  with  Africa  generally,  a  civilised  community, 
is  an  achievement  that  reflects  great  honour  on  missions. 
The  fact  deserves  special   recognition,  that  the  Sierra  Leone 


21 8  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

Christians  have  taken  an  active  part  in  the  furthur  exten- 
sion of  Christianity,  especially  into  Yoruba  Land  and  up  the 
Niger.1  The  adjacent  heathen  territory,  however,  has  been 
evangelised,  a  little  by  the  Sierra  Leone  Christians,  but  (apart 
from  the  C.  M.  S.  and  the  Wesleyans)  mainly  by  the  American 
United  Brethren,  and  more  recently  by  the  International 
Missionary  Alliance,  with  most  success  in  the  Sherbro  region, 
where  nearly  5000  Christians  have  been  gathered.  On  the 
occasion  of  the  rising  of  the  savage  Temne  tribe  against  the 
British  Government  in  1898,  15  members  of  the  mission  staff 
of  the  United  Brethren  (7  Europeans  and  8  Africans)  were 
murdered  with  the  utmost  cruelty, — a  blow  the  first  con- 
sequence of  which  has  been  the  stopping  of  the  whole  mission. 
A  worker  of  the  C.  M.  S.  was  also  a  victim  of  this  rebellion ; 
its  work  has,  however,  already  been  resumed.  Among  different 
tribes  on  the  border  of  the  French  Sudan  the  work  is  only  in 
its  beginnings. 

157.  In  the  neighbouring  Liberia  we  have  another  unique 
negro  State,  that,  like  the  Sierra  Leone  colony,  owes  its  origin 
to  a  philanthropic  scheme.  In  1817  there  was  formed  in 
Washington,  mainly  at  the  instigation  of  S.  J.  Mills  (p.  110), 
an  American  Colonisation  Society,2  which  set  itself  the  task 
of  settling  free  American  negroes  in  Africa.  After  an  un- 
successful attempt  on  Sherbro  Island,  this  was  at  last  effected, 
amid  many  misfortunes,  on  Cape  Mesurado,  where  in  1824 
Monrovia  was  founded,  the  future  capital  of  the  settlement 
that  received  the  name  Liberia.  Meantime  the  immigration 
from  America  was  by  no  means  so  considerable  as  the  optim- 
ism of  the  Colonisation  Society  had  hoped.  On  the  highest 
estimate,  up  to  the  present  day  it  amounts  to  30,000  souls, 
and  all  fresh  attempts  to  transplant  American  negroes  back 
to  Africa  in  great  troops  have  failed.  The  greatest  folly  was 
committed  by  doctrinaire  Republicanism  when,  in  1847,  it  de- 
clared Liberia  a  free  State,  quite  after  the  model  of  the  United 
States, — an  error,  to  the  account  of  which  may  chiefly  be  laid 
the  social  and  industrial  failures  which  have  brought  discredit 
on  the  Duodecimo  Republic,  aptly  styled  by  Zahn  "  the  land 
of  big  words  and  small  deeds."  There  have  been,  indeed, 
among  the  Liberians  some  intellectually  eminent  men,  like  Dr. 
Blyden,  but  till  now  the  majority  are  caricatures  of  culture, 
whom  the  veneer  of  education  has  made  very  high-minded,  but 
has  not  yet  made  ripe  for  self-government. 

The  immigrant  negroes  being  already  nearly  all  Christians 

1  Jubilee  Rep.  of  the  Sierra  Leone  Auxiliary,  C.  M.  S.,  London,  1867. 

2  The  organ  of  this  Society  is  the  African  Repository,  a  periodical  somewhat 
rhetorically  written,  whose  representations  are  to  be  used  with  care. 


AFRICA  219 

there  was  no  need  to  Christianise  them,  but  there  was  need  of 
ecclesiastical  consolidation,  or  rather  of  a  home  mission  work, 
to  which  especially  the  American  Presbyterians  and  Episcopal 
Methodists  gave  themselves,  employing  to  a  very  large  extent 
coloured  pastors  as  their  agents.  The  natives  proper,  who  are 
composed  of  various  and  in  part  Mohammedanised  native 
tribes  (Vey,  Bassa,  Kroo),  and  number  over  a  million,  were 
an  object  of  missionary  effort,  not  by  the  Liberians,  but  by 
American  societies,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  and  the  Lutheran 
General  Synod,  the  Basel  Missionary  Society  having  unsuccess- 
fully made  some  first  attempts,  beginning  in  the  early  Thirties. 
The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  particular,  among  whose 
workers  Bishops  Payne,  Auer  (formerly  Basel  missionary  on 
the  Gold  Coast),  and  Ferguson  (a  Liberian)  are  pre-eminent, 
carries  on  active  missionary  work,  and  at  many  stations  not 
without  success,  especially  in  the  Cape  Palmas  district. 
Worthy  of  mention  is  also  the  small  Lutheran  mission  station 
of  Muhlenberg  (Missionary  Day),  which  combines  religious 
work  with  industrial  training  and  is  self-supporting,  and  exerts 
an  influence  for  good  over  the  surrounding  district.1  In  recent 
years  the  unstable  William  Taylor  (p.  114)  has  kindled  at 
many  stations  in  various  districts  of  Liberia  a  quantity  of 
Methodist  straw  fire,  which,  however — as  is  shown  by  the 
marked  fall  in  the  statistics — does  not  seem  to  have  burned 
long,  as  indeed  this  roving  spirit  had  only  set  up  here  a 
temporary  theatre  for  his  romantic  activity.  The  Liberia 
Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  estimates  the 
present  number  of  its  full  church  members  there  at  3000. 
The  total  number  of  the  Christianised  aborigines  of  Liberia 
cannot  be  determined,  on  account  of  the  defectiveness  of  the 
statistics  to  hand.  The  literary  productions  in  the  native 
tongues  are  also  scanty.  Altogether  one  may  reckon  21,000 
as  the  number  of  Christians  in  Liberia. 

158.  The  Ivory  Coast,  adjoining  Liberia,  is  up  till  now  a 
land  without  an  evangelical  mission,  and  even  the  (E.  C.) 
Apostolic  Prefecture,  named  after  this  coast,  only  numbers  380 
Catholic  Christians  on  7  stations,  although  it  supports  16 
European  missionaries  in  this  place.  The  Gold  Coast,  however, 
forms  another  extensive  evangelical  mission  field,  occupied  in 
the  west  chiefly  by  the  Wesleyan,  in  the  east  by  the  Basel, 
Missionary  Society.  The  former  took  up  the  work  there  in 
1834,  and  had  in  the  mulatto  Freeman  a  capable  pioneer.  Its 
work  lies  chiefly  among  the  Fante,  but  in  various  places  it  has 
in  a  very  unfriendly  way  intruded  into  the  Basel  field  of 
1  Miss.  Rev.,  1895,  47. 


220  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

labour.  Of  its  14  chief  stations,  the  oldest  and  till  now  the 
most  central  is  Cape  Coast,  but  Elniina,  west  of  it,  and 
Anamabu,  Winneba,  and  Akra,  east  of  it,  are  also  important. 
The  majority  of  the  workers  are  coloured.  The  total  number 
of  its  church  members,  including  the  so-called  "Junior 
Society,"  is  reckoned  —  probably  too  highly — 13,000,  with 
32,000  adherents  and  13,000  scholars.  The  fluctuation  in 
these  figures  proves,  however,  the  revivalistic  character  of 
the  Methodist  work,  which  lays  more  stress  on  enthusiastic 
awakening,  to  which  the  negro  is  so  susceptible,  than  on  sober 
deepening  of  the  Christian  life ;  hence  the  sudden  forward  and 
backward  movements  are  so  frequent.  As  yet  only  some  of 
the  Gospels  have  been  translated  into  the  Fante  language. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  the  Gold  Coast,  after  an  unsuccessful 
attempt  by  the  Moravians  in  the  previous  century,  the  Basel 
Mission  in  1828  began  a  work  which  has  proved  as  costly  as 
it  has  been  solid.  This  work  extended  by  degrees  among  the 
tribes  of  the  Ga,  Chi,  and  Ashantee  negroes,  who  number  alto- 
gether over  350,000  souls,  the  Chi  people  being  the  most 
numerous.  None  of  these  nations  had  any  writing,  but  the 
Basel  missionaries  Zimmermann  and  the  linguistically  gifted 
Christaller  created  a  literature  both  in  Ga  and  in  Chi,  and 
translated  the  Bible  into  both  languages.  While  the  Wesleyan 
Mission  has  kept  mainly  to  the  coast,  the  aim  of  the  Basel 
Mission  from  the  beginning  has  been  the  interior  of  the 
country,  in  which  it  has  kept  extending  to  the  north,  east, 
and  west,  and  has  now  entered  the  Ashantee  kingdom,  in  which 
the  British  occupation  has  put  an  end  to  the  reign  of  terror 
which  formerly  prevailed.  The  principal  part  of  its  field  of 
operation  lies  within  British  territory,  but  a  small  part  beyond 
the  Volta  is  German.  It  was  only  in  the  Forties  that  the 
mission,  after  overcoming  great  initial  difficulties,  slowly  began 
to  be  successful,  thanks  especially  to  the  courageous  endurance 
of  missionary  Andrew  Kiis,  and  afterwards  of  Dieterle,  and 
to  the  wise  patience  of  the  home  directorate,  which  gradually 
transferred  the  mission  field  from  the  coast  (Christiansborg) 
to  the  interior.  Eleven  chief  stations  arose  one  after  another: 
Akropong,  the  first  inland  station  ;  Abokobi,  Odumase,  and 
Ada  in  the  Ga  district;  with  Nsaba,  Aburi,  Begoro,  Abetifi, 
Anum  in  the  Chi  district;  to  which  have  now  been  added 
Coomasee,  which  was  occupied  by  the  veteran  Kamseycr,  and 
Bismarckburg,  the  farthest  outpost  (besides  Worawora)  in 
the  hinterland  of  German  Togoland.  In  spite  of  numerous 
deaths  of  missionaries  and  repeated  opposition  of  heat  lieu 
chiefs  and  fetich  priests,  rising  even  to  persecution, — in  spite, 
too,  of    embarrassment   by   wars   and    colonial  politics, — the 


AFRICA  221 

thorough  and  sober  work  of  the  patient  Basel  missionaries 
has  brought  in  harvests  increasing  in  growing  measure  from 
decade  to  decade.  At  the  end  of  1857  after  30  years' 
labour,  there  were  only  367  Christians ;  but  in  1867  these 
numbered  1500,  and  in  1877,  3600  ;  in  1887  there  were  7500, 
and  in  1904  the  number  had  increased  to  20,200,  making 
the  increase  of  the  last  fifteen  years  greater  than  that  of  the 
first  six  decades  put  together.  The  Basel  Mission  has  devoted 
special  attention  to  its  school  system,  which  is  splendidly 
organised,  from  the  simplest  elementary  schools  up  to  the 
theological  seminary,  and  provides  at  present  for  5900  pupils. 
It  has  also  educated  capital  native  pastors  (22)  and  catechists 
(88).  Excellent  industrial  results,  too,  have  been  attained,  so 
that  the  mission  has  produced  a  very  marked  change  even  in 
respect  to  civilisation.  For  about  a  decade  a  medical  mission 
has  been  conducted  with  ever-increasing  success. 

159.  On  the  adjacent  Slave  Coast,  beyond  the  Volta,  the 
North  German  (Bremen)  Mission  has  been  at  work  since  1847 
among  the  Evhe  negroes,  who  number  some  2  millions,  but 
its  progress  has  been  very  slow.  Its  limited  forces  have  been 
decimated  by  constant  sickness  and  death, — 70  men  and  women 
having  died  in  its  service.  Its  field  of  labour  is  partly  in 
British,  partly  in  German  (Togo)  colonial  territory,  a  circum- 
stance which  occasioned  great  difficulty  in  school  administra- 
tion on  account  of  the  language  question ;  and  it  is  divided 
into  five  districts,  after  the  five  chief  stations — Keta,  Ho, 
Amejovhe,  Lome,  and  Agu.  Around  these  centres  58  out- 
stations  have  been  erected,  chiefly  by  the  Evhe  people  them- 
selves, and  these  are  manned  by  natives.  After  the  first 
quarter  of  a  century  the  Evhe  church  numbered  only  93 
members :  to-day  it  has  about  4500,  of  whom  2400  are  in  the 
German  district  Togo,  and  its  63  schools  are  attended  by 
2900  pupils.  The  people  have  been  supplied  with  a  small 
but  good  literature  in  their  own  tongue,  a  third  edition  of  the 
New  Testament  has  already  appeared,  and  an  edition  of  the 
Old  Testament  is  being  prepared.  The  introduction  into  the 
service  of  missionary  deaconesses  has  exercised  an  educative 
influence  of  increasing  importance,  especially  upon  the  female 
sex.  The  elevation  of  the  life  of  the  people,  even  in  respect 
of  culture,  which  has  been  brought  about  through  the  mission, 
is  unmistakable.  The  small  Wesleyan  mission  which  labours 
beside  the  North  German  mission  in  Togoland  (Little  Popo) 
has  only  about  700  Christians,  but  now  it  seems  likely  to  be 
carried  on  more  energetically  by  German  Methodists.  In  the 
adjoining  kingdom  of  Dahomey,  now  a  French  possession,  there 
is  only   a   somewhat    neglected   evangelical   mission   of    the 


222  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

Wesleyans  in  Porto  Novo  on  the  coast. — An  unimportant 
African  Meth.  Episc.  Zion  Church  in  Keta  gives  more  offence 
by  its  noisy  revivalism  than  it  accomplishes  of  real  missionary 
service. 

160.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the  Slave  Coast  there  is  again 
an  extensive  evangelical  mission  field,  the  Lagos  district,  with 
its  hinterland  of  Yoruba  inhabited  by  the  Aku  people.  Nigeria 
is  now  included  in  this  district,  and  the  whole  province,  in- 
cluding the  Gold  Coast,  is  described  officially  as  West  Equa- 
torial Africa.1  Lagos,  the  "  African  Liverpool,"  is  a  British 
colony  :  Yoruba  is  regarded  only  as  a  Protectorate.  Immense 
ruin  is  wrought  here,  as  on  the  whole  of  the  West  Coast,  by 
the  gin  which  is  imported  in  great  quantities,  and  the  scandalous 
life  of  the  white  people  has  terribly  demoralised  the  Coast 
population  proper.  Thus  the  work  of  the  mission,  which  here 
is  in  the  hands  of  the  C.  M.  S.  and  the  Wesleyan  M.  S.,  is  seriously 
impeded,  and  the  life  of  the  Christian  community  is  deterior- 
ated to  a  rather  low  level.  In  addition  to  this,  there  is  the 
deadly  climate,  which  entails  a  frequent  changing  of  the  Euro- 
pean workers,  and  there  is  also  the  struggle  with  the  constantly 
advancing  and  aggressive  Mohammedanism. 

The  beginnings  of  the  mission  go  back  to  the  Thirties  and 
Forties  of  the  19th  century.  A  number  of  freed  slaves,  natives  of 
Yoruba  Land,  who  had  become  Christians,  emigrated  from  Sierra 
Leone  back  to  their  native  country.  When  they  had  begun 
the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  here,  missionaries,  chiefly  coloured, 
were  sent  after  them.-  In  this  way  arose  the  mission  stations  of 
Badagry  (1845)  and  Lagos  (1852)  on  the  coast,  and  Abeokuta 
(1846),  Ibadan(1852),  and  later  Onde  Ondo  (1876),  and  others 
in  the  interior.  Abeokuta  especially  has  a  romantic  history. 
In  1820  the  Mohammedan  Fula  people  burst  into  Yoruba 
Land  and  devastated  it ;  and  from  Ilorin  as  a  centre  they 
engaged  in  plundering  expeditions  and  slave-hunts.  Scat- 
tered remnants  of  the  hunted  population  gradually  gathered 
under  the  huge  granite  blocks  on  the  river  Ozun,  and  called 
their  place  of  refuge  Abeokuta — i.e.  "  Under  the  rock."  In 
1842  their  numbers  had  grown  to  50,000,  which  afterwards 
increased  to  100,000  and  even  more.  In  this  place  Freeman, 
Townsend,  and  Crowther — who  found  his  lost  mother  here — 
all  laboured  for  a  time,  and,  in  spite  of  violent  persecutions 
and  repeated  warlike  invasions  of  the  Dahomey  tribe,  there 

1  Intelligencer,  1902,  720,  "The  Diocese  of  Western  Equatorial  Africa." 
[But  this  refers  only  to  the  diocesan  arrangements  of  the  C.  M.  S.  The  political 
divisions  of  this  part  of  Africa  arc  Northern  Nigeria,  Lagos,  and  Southern 
Nigeria.  The  two  last  are  about  to  be  amalgamated  in  one  administration. 
—Ed.] 


AFRICA  223 

arose  a  flourishing  Christian  congregation,  whose  condition 
may  of  course  have  been  greatly  idealised  in  the  time  of  the 
first  enthusiasm,  but  which  was  able,  even  though  greatly 
reduced,  to  maintain  itself  when  a  fresh  outbreak  of  enmity 
on  the  part  of  the  heathen  drove  out  all  the  whites.  There 
was  afterwards,  indeed,  a  new  crisis,  when  the  able  black 
missionary  Johnson  became  pastor,  and  exercised  church 
discipline  with  perhaps  too  little  discretion.  Within  the  last 
few  years  the  much  persecuted  and  disorganised  congregation 
has  begun  to  recover  both  internally  and  externally  (about 
4700  members).  Of  the  numerous  other  inland  stations,  Ibadan 
especially  has  become  known  through  its  missionary,  Hinderer.1 
The  greatest  number  of  Christians  are  at  Lagos,  where  they 
are  organised  in  different  parishes,  and  where  also  the  central 
schools  are  situated.  The  C.  M.  S.  has  unfortunately  somewhat 
neglected  this  important  mission  field,  owing  to  the  demands 
made  by  its  immense  new  undertakings  in  Central  Africa. 
With  doctrinaire  haste  it  made  the  larger  congregations,  notably 
Lagos,  independent,  a  proceeding  which  not  only  led  to  various 
secessions  and  confusing  individualistic  missionary  schemes, 
but  also  promoted  unchastity,  and  still  further  lowered  the 
moral  standard  of  the  congregations,  which  was  already  very 
low.  There  are  now,  alongside  of  an  English  bishop,  three 
black  assistant  bishops,  specially  for  Yoruba  and  the  Coast  dis- 
trict, who  visit  diligently,  while  the  independent  congregation 
in  Lagos  is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  English  Bishop  of  Sierra 
Leone.  The  total  number  of  Christians  belonging  to  the 
C.  M.  S.  in  Lagos  and  Yoruba,  including  the  independent  con- 
gregations, is  about  16,500,  while  the  Wesleyans  return  2600 
members,  with  9000  adherents.  The  American  (Southern) 
Baptists  and  the  Native  Baptist  Union  have  about  2500 
baptized.  The  results  would  have  been  greater  if  more  stead- 
fast attention  had  been  given  to  the  work,  and  if  a  larger 
number  of  European  workers  had  been  kept  in  the  service. 
The  quality  of  the  Christianity  there  has  also  suffered  from 
the  same  want  of  care;  but,  according  to  the  most  recent 
reports,  an  improvement  has  begun  both  inwardly  and  out- 
wardly. The  school  education,  too,  has  its  defects,  especially 
where  it  is  perverted  and  denationalised  by  the  almost  exclusive 
use  of  the  English  language.  On  the  other  hand,  the  financial 
achievements  are  considerable.  The  Anglicans  alone  raise  a 
yearly  church  contribution  of  £4425.  On  the  occasion  of  the 
fiftieth  anniversary,  a  black  merchant  gave  £1000  for  the 
native  pastorate,  and  promised  a  like  sum  for  the  erection  of 

1  A.  Hinderer,  Seventeen  Years  in  the  Yoruba  Country,  3rd  ed.,    London, 
1877. 


224  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

an  industrial  school.  The  whole  Bible  has  been  translated 
into  the  Yoruba  language,  and  has  already  reached  a  fourth 
edition.  On  the  coast,  however,  the  language  of  the  church 
seems  to  be  English. 

161.  Another  field  of  labour  of  the  C.  M.  S.  bordering  on 
Lagos  lies  in  the  region  of  the  Niger  estuary  and  the  so-called 
Oil  Eivers,  which  with  its  hinterland  is  also  a  British  Pro- 
tectorate. Here  work  is  carried  on  both  on  the  coast  and  up 
the  Niger.  This  field  is  of  especial  interest,  from  the  fact  that 
from  the  beginning  it  was  wrought  entirely  by  black  mis- 
sionaries, chiefly  from  Sierra  Leone,  and  was  governed  by  a 
black  bishop,  the  well-known  Samuel  Crowther.  The  motive 
for  pursuing  this  method  was  afforded  partly  by  the  deadliness 
of  the  climate  for  Europeans,  and  partly  by  a  certain  doctrinaire 
idealism,  which  regards  the  converted  Africans  as  at  once  ripe 
for  ecclesiastical  and  missionary  independence  and  activity. 
It  was  this  idealism  that  prematurely  constituted  the  Sierra 
Leone  congregation  and  a  part  of  the  Lagos  and  Yoruba  con- 
gregations as  independent  native  churches.  The  history  of 
the  Niger  Mission,  even  more  clearly  than  the  history  of 
these  congregations,  has  proved  the  danger  of  this  experiment. 
Not  a  few  of  the  black  pastors  are  already  highly  qualified  in 
respect  of  intellectual  education,  and  many  of  them  are  men  of 
real  piety ;  but  still,  with  individual  exceptions,  they  are  lacking 
in  ripeness  of  character,  in  firmness  of  discipline,  in  self-control, 
in  steadfastness,  and  unfortunately  also  in  humility.  What 
an  experienced  and  sober  missionary  said  of  the  Oceanic  native 
workers  is  in  the  main  true  of  the  African :  "  They  do  splen- 
didly under  good  European  direction,  but  they  cannot  be  relied 
on  yet  as  officers."  The  C.  M.  S.,  too,  was  unprejudiced  enough, 
when  the  facts  corrected  its  idealism,  to  appoint  an  English 
clergyman  as  directing  bishop  of  the  Niger  Mission  on  the 
death  of  Crowther  in  1891. 

The  Niger  Mission  had  its  origin  in  the  three  voyages  of 
exploration  up  the  Niger  which  were  undertaken  in  1841, 
1854,  and  1857,  in  the  first  and  third  of  which  Crowther 
joined.  The  inhabitants  of  the  river  banks,  who  are  divided 
into  various  tribes  and  speak  various  languages  (Iju,  Ibo, 
Igbara,  and  in  the  farthest  north  Nupe  and  Hausa),  although 
on  the  lowest  level  of  crude  heathenism,  were  found  to  be 
willing  to  receive  Christian  teachers.  And  so,  in  1857,  the 
mission  stations  of  Onitsha  and  Gbebe  were  planted,  and  in 
1861  and  the  following  years,  Lokoja,  Bonny,  Brass,  Asaba, 
Okrika,  Ogbonoma,  Obochi,  and  some  others ;  and  all  were 
manned  by  black  missionaries.  Crowther  was  designated 
bishop  in  1864,  and  later  two  coloured  deacons,  one  of  them 


W  A  A  3T  Johnston  .Ijmilad  Jldmfrnrgh.  £  "London 


AFRICA  225 

his  son,  were  given  him  as  helpers.  Along  with  triumphant 
advances  and  much  encouraging  success,  there  were  al.<o  re- 
peated reverses  and  retreats  of  the  most  painful  kind,  with 
warlike  disturbances  and  ever-renewed  outbreaks  of  the  wildest 
heathenism,  even  to  the  extent  of  human  sacrifice  and  canni- 
balism, as  well  as  persecutions  and  complications  with  the 
whites.  In  the  midst  of  all  these  difficulties  the  black  mis- 
sionaries did  not  always  stand  firm,  although  some  held  on 
bravely,  and  gross  offences  among  them  were  exceptional. 
From  1880  onwards  the  indications  multiplied  that  the  black 
teachers  and  preachers  were  not  quite  equal  to  their  task ;  and 
when,  a  little  later,  some  English  missionaries,  excellent  men 
though  somewhat  enthusiastic,  were  sent  to  the  Upper  Niger 
in  order  to  extend  the  mission  into  the  Soudan  (an  under- 
taking that  completely  failed  in  consequence  of  their  death), 
it  was  patent  that  even  in  the  Christian  congregations  things 
were  not  as  they  should  be.  It  was  not,  however,  till  after  the 
death  of  the  aged  Crowther  that  a  thorough  change  in  the 
management  of  the  mission  was  brought  into  operation  by  the 
appointment  of  an  English  bishop  and  the  sending  out  of  some 
English  missionaries.  This  brought  about  the  separation  of 
the  large  Delta  congregations  from  the  C.  M.  S.  These  Delta 
congregations,  with  Bonny  as  their  centre,  form  a  relatively 
independent  native  church,  which  has  now  received  a  coloured 
assistant  bishop,  and  again  stands  in  friendly  relations  with  the 
C.  M.  S.  Both  heie  and  in  the  two  other  mission  centres, 
Onitsha  and  Lokoja,  the  work  seems  once  more  to  be  making 
a  hopeful  advance.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  work  in  Yoruba 
and  in  the  Niger,  now  being  carried  on  somewhat  more 
energetically,  will  not  be  again  neglected  in  favour  of  the 
Hausaland  Mission,  which  has  been  established  in  1902  by  the 
planting  of  a  station  in  Gierku,  after  repeated  unsuccessful 
efforts.  The  total  number  of  negro  Christians,  considerably 
reduced  by  the  crisis  of  the  last  decade,  is  in  round  numbers 
2000,  exclusive  of  the  native  church,  which  is  not  included 
in  the  mission  census,  and  numbers  perhaps  2700  members, 
besides  2000  catechumens. 

162.  The  Old  Calabar  bay,  with  its  Efik-speaking  popula- 
tion, forms  the  boundary  of  the  British  Protectorate,  though 
still  belonging  to  the  Oil  Kivers.1  Here  the  Scottish  United 
Presbyterians  have  been  at  work  since  1846,  following  an 
impulse  proceeding  from  their  West  Indian  congregations. 
Encountering  the  very  greatest  hindrances  from  a  super- 
stitious as  well  as  barbaric  and  demoralised  heathenism,  and 
suffering,  too,  from  a  deadly  climate,  the  mission  was  only  able 

1  [The  Protectorate  is  now  known  as  Southern  Nigeria. — Ed.] 
15 


226  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

very  slowly  to  gain  a  foothold  and  attain  success.  After  long 
struggles,  especially  with  the  chiefs, — "King"  Eyo  Honesty 
excepted,  who  was  friendly  to  the  missionaries  from  the  begin- 
ning,— they  succeeded  in  the  course  of  decades  in  securing  the 
abolition  of  sacrifices  for  the  dead,  twin-murder,  the  burial  of 
living  infants  with  the  corpse  of  the  mother,  the  poison-bean 
ordeal,  and  similar  inhuman  customs.  With  great  diligence 
the  missionaries  (Waddell,  Goldie,  Anderson)  mastered  the 
Efik  language,  speedily  set  about  translation  of  the  Bible, 
erected  schools,  and  gained  helpers  from  among  the  natives. 
At  three  stations  on  the  Calabar  estuary,  in  the  Efik  towns 
proper,  there  gradually  arose  small  congregations,  and  in  the 
Eighties  a  venture  could  at  last  be  made  up  the  Cross  Kiver 
into  the  interior.  At  present  there  are  8  chief  stations, 
of  which  Ungwana  is  the  most  northerly,  and  at  which  there 
are  altogether  750  communicants,  while  more  than  1000  pupils 
attend  the  schools,  the  chief  institute  at  Duke  Town  being  also 
an  industrial  school.  The  real  success  of  this  faithful  and 
patient  mission,  however,  goes  far  beyond  this  humble 
statistical  result.  It  has  exerted  an  influence  for  morals  and 
civilisation  which  has  broken  the  power  of  the  old  heathen 
terrorism,  and  has  laid  a  solid  foundation  for  the  future 
Christianising  of  the  tribes  within  its  sphere.1 — On  the  most 
easterly  of  the  Old  Iiivers,  the  Qua  Ibo,  there  is,  since  1887,  a 
sort  of  free  mission,  which  was  founded  by  pupils  of  the 
Grattan  Guinness  East  London  Institute,  and  is  supported  by  a 
Qua  Ibo  Committee  in  Ireland.  It  is  at  work  at  3  stations, 
and  in  spite  of  much  enmity  on  the  part  of  a  very  savage 
heathenism  it  has  already  gathered  almost  1000  Christians. 

163.  The  English  Primitive  Methodists  have  a  mission  on 
Fernando  Po,  the  island  lying  south  of  Calabar,  which  (about 
230  communicants)  is  conducted  with  but  small  forces,  and 
is  much  hindered  by  the  opposition  of  the  Spanish  officials. 
They  also  maintain  3  stations  partly  on  the  Eio  del  Hey,  and 
partly  in  Southern  Nigeria,  with  about  200  Christians. 

Immediately  adjacent  to  Old  Calabar  lies  the  German 
Cameroons,  where  we  enter  the  great  district  of  the  Bantu 
negroes.  So  long  ago  as  1845  the  English  Baptists  from 
Fernando  Po,  under  Saker,2  a  missionary  of  great  linguistic 
ability  and  practical  enterprise,  began  a  work  here,  which, 
though  it  had  no  considerable  numerical  result,  yet  rendered 

1  Goldie,  Calabar  and  its  Mission,  Edin.  1890.  Dickie,  Story  of  the  Mission 
in  Old  Calabar,  Edin.  1896.  [The  Ibo  country,  to  the  west  of  the  Cross  Kiver, 
has  recently  been  made  accessible  to  Europeans,  and  is  now  bring  entered  by 
the  United  Free  Church  (formerly  United  Presbyterian)  Mission,  and  also  by 
the  Niger  Delta  Pastorate,  under  an  agreement  as  to  separate  spheres. — En.] 

2  Underbill,  Alfred  Saker,  London,  1884. 


AFRICA  227 

valuable  services  in  preparing  for  the  future.  With  the 
German  occupation  in  1884  there  arose  all  sorts  of  misunder- 
standings, in  consequence  of  which  the  Baptists  ceded  to  Basel 
their  Cameroon  mission  field,  which  had  been  rather  neglected, 
especially  since  the  commencement  of  their  Congo  Mission ; 
the  Basel  Society  having  also  been  requested  by  friends  in 
Germany  to  begin  a  mission  in  their  colony.  Unfortunately 
the  Basel  Mission  could  not  retain  hold  of  the  Baptist  congre- 
gations: in  particular,  the  severe  discipline  of  the  German 
Mission  occasioned  their  separation.  They  formed  a  Native 
Baptist  Union,  and  only  in  1898  did  the  Missionary  Society  of 
the  German  Baptists,  founded  in  1890,  succeed  in  a  large 
measure  in  terminating  the  separation.  In  4  mission  circuits 
the  Cameroon  Baptists  number  altogether  2500  communicants. 
The  relations  between  them  and  the  Basel  people  have  now 
become  tolerably  friendly.  In  an  astonishing  way,  though  with 
great  sacrifice  of  human  life,  the  Basel  missionaries  have  suc- 
ceeded, by  virtue  of  their  solid  method  of  working,  in  founding 
9  chief  stations  and  over  140  out-stations,  not  only  in  the 
Cameroon  basin  among  the  Dualla  (Bethel,  Bonaberi),  but  also 
northward  up  the  Wuri  and  Mungo  Rivers  as  far  as  Nyasoso  and 
Bakundu,  southward  on  the  Sannaga  (Lobethel),  and  westward 
as  far  as  the  Cameroon  Mountains  (Buea).  At  these  stations 
they  have  already  gathered  4800  baptized  Christians  in  con- 
gregations, organised  an  extensive  school  system  with  6500 
scholars,  and  have  won  a  goodly  body  of  native  helpers.  In 
literary  work,  too,  the  Basel  missionaries  have  already  been 
very  diligent.  Saker's  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Dualla  has 
just  been  republished  after  being  revised.  In  the  southern 
part  of  the  Cameroon  region,  in  Batanga  Land,  there  are  4 
principal  stations  of  the  American  Presbyterians,  who  have 
been  at  work  in  some  cases  from  1875,  and  in  others  from 
1893.  Under  the  pressure  of  French  colonial  intolerance,  they 
were  compelled  to  limit  their  old  work  on  the  Gaboon  and  the 
Ogowe,  and  to  hand  part  of  it  over  to  the  Paris  Missionary 
Society  and  to  transfer  part  of  it  to  German  soil.  Their 
congregations  in  the  German  Cameroons  are  at  present  com- 
posed of  2000  Christians.  The  chief  pioneer  was  Dr.  Good,  an 
excellent  man.1 

164.  The  older  mission  fields  of  these  American  Presby- 
terians are  on  the  Gaboon  Elver  and  Corisco  Island.  The 
great  moral  corruption  of  the  Mpongwe  negroes  there,  the 
rivalry  of  the  Boman  Catholics,  and  the  intolerant  colonial 
policy  of  the  French,  seriously  hindered  the  progress  of  the 
work,  notwithstanding  all  the  faithfulness  of  the  workers. 
1  Parsons,  A  Lift  for  Africa,  New  York,  1878. 


228  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

The  greatest  success  was  attained  on  the  Benito  and  Ogowe 
Rivers.  Including  the  3  stations  handed  over  to  the  Paris 
Missionary  Society,  there  are  in  French  Congo  7  evangelical 
chief  stations  with  altogether  some  1900  church  members. 
The  whole  Bible  has  been  translated  into  the  Mpongwe 
language. 

165.  The  epoch-making  exploration  of  the  whole  course 
of  the  Congo  by  Stanley  (1876-77),1  which  was  followed  by 
the  establishment  of  the  Congo  Free  State — a  hundred  times 
as  large  as  Belgium — and  by  the  new  era  of  African  colonial 
politics,  opened  a  new  western  door  of  entrance  into  the 
interior  of  Africa,  which,  especially  since  the  completion  of 
the  railway  up  to  Stanley  Pool,  gives  access  to  an  unob- 
structed way  almost  as  far  as  the  region  of  the  East  African 
Lakes.  The  opening  of  this  wide  door  acted  immediately  as 
a  mighty  missionary  signal,  and  a  whole  series  of  missionary 
undertakings  were  begun,  which,  however,  at  the  outset  were 
divested  of  steadiness  and  solidity  by  the  restless  haste  to 
spread  as  quickly  as  possible  a  great  network  of  mission 
stations  over  huge  tracts  of  country.  The  Pioman  Church  had 
already  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  carried 
on  in  the  old  Portuguese  Congo  domain  a  mission  that  had  a 
great  reputation  on  account  of  its  outward  success.  This  had, 
however,  long  lain  in  ruins,  because  it  had  been  conducted  in  a 
way  so  unevangelical  that  it  must  be  described  as  a  caricature 
of  the  mission  of  the  Middle  Ages.2  In  San  Salvador,  the 
capital  of  this  old  Congo  domain,  the  English  Baptists  from 
the  Cameroons  began  a  mission  in  1879,  and  they  had  the 
honour  of  being  the  pioneers  of  the  now  so  very  widespread 
evangelical  missions  of  the  Congo.  They  were  induced  to 
undertake  this  work  by  Mr.  Arthington,  a  rich  Englishman, 
who  was  a  very  liberal,  though  often  eccentric,  friend  of 
missions,  who  cherished  a  special  fondness  for  mission  ships, 
and  was  untiringly  urging  new  missionary  undertakings  in 
fields  hitherto  unoccupied.  The  first  journey  of  exploration 
was  undertaken  by  the  Cameroon  missionaries,  ( Somber  and 
Grenfell;  the  second,  carried  out  by  Bentley  and  Crudgington, 
led  at  the  beginning  of  the  Eighties  to  the  founding  of  the 
first  Congo  station  proper.  Induced  especially  by  Arthington's 
gift  of  a  mission  ship,  to  which  he  afterwards  added  a  second, 
the  missionaries  pressed  steadily  up  stream,  and  in  a  com- 
paratively short  time  laid  down  10  chief  stations,  sonic  of 
i  hem  at  great  distances  from  each  other,  up  to  a  point  beyond 

Stanley,  Through  the  Dark  Continent,  London,  1877.     The  Congo  and  the 
Founding  of  the  Congo  Free  State,  London,  1885. 
a  Bentley,  Pioneering  on  the  ','«/'.'/",  London,  1900. 


AFRICA  229 

the  equator  and  close  to  the  Stanley  Falls.  Led  away,  perhaps, 
by  the  mission  ships  and  by  the  love  of  travel  and  exploration 
which  characterised  Grenfell  in  particular,  this  mission  has 
developed  a  spirit  of  unrest  which  has  interfered  with  steady 
station  work,  and  which  is  chiefly  to  blame  for  the  smallness  of 
the  missionary  result  in  proportion  to  the  expenditure  of  force. 
There  are  so  far  only  800  church  members,  including  those 
in  San  Salvador,  who  make  up  fully  the  half.  According  to 
report,  the  period  of  the  founding  of  new  stations  has  now  at 
last  come  to  an  end. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  English  Baptists,  Grattan 
Guinness,  the  founder  of  the  East  London  Institute,  began  a 
Congo  or  Livingstone  Inland  Mission,  whose  name  declares  its 
kinship  with  the  China  Inland  Mission.  He  also  with  undue 
haste  laid  down  too  many  stations,  which  in  repeated  instances 
had  to  be  given  up  again,  and  pressed  on  too  rapidly  as  far  as 
the  equator.  A  great  number  of  men  and  women,  quite  50 
in  number,  were  sent  out  in  six  years,  without  sufficient 
preparation  for  a  work  which  was  not  sufficiently  prepared 
for  them.  After  great  sacrifices  of  life,  the  mission,  which  had 
grown  too  large  for  its  founder,  was  fortunately  taken  over  in 
1884  by  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union,  under  whose 
management  it  is  now  prospering.  At  present  it  embraces  8 
principal  stations.  Of  the  more  than  3000  church  members 
gathered  up  to  this  time,  about  the  half  belong  to  the  Banza 
Manteke  on  the  Lower  Congo. 

When  Guinness's  stations  were  given  over  to  the  American 
Baptists,  the  station  of  Mukimbungu,  on  the  Lower  Congo, 
was  left  independently  to  some  missionaries  belonging  to  the 
Swedish  Missionary  Alliance.  Since  that  time  this  Swedish 
mission  has  extended  to  6  stations,  which,  however,  are 
prudently  concentrated  in  a  somewhat  limited  field.  This 
concentration,  combined  with  the  faithful  work  done  at  the 
stations,  has  had  as  a  result  the  founding  of  hopeful  con- 
gregations, with  about  1700  communicants,  who  exert  a 
considerable  influence  on  the  heathen  around  them.  In  1889, 
Grattan  Guinness,  for  the  second  time,  founded,  by  the  agency 
of  John  Mackittrick,  a  Congo  mission  which  has  cost  much 
sacrifice ;  it  is  situated  beyond  the  equator,  among  the  wild 
tribe  of  the  Balolo,  who  live  on  the  basin  of  the  Lulongo, 
a  tributary  on  the  left  of  the  Congo  south  of  its  great  bend 
(Balolo  Mission).  At  the  7  stations  which  have  been  laid 
down  up  to  the  present  time,  real  success  seems  not  yet  to 
have  been  attained,  notwithstanding  the  number  of  men  and 
women  workers  who  have  been  sent  out,  and  of  whom  23  have 
died.     Mission  steamers  are  used  by  this  mission. 


230  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  former  Government  stations  occupied  by  W.  Taylor  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Lower  Congo  and  on  Stanley  Pool,  where 
his  boastful  plans  of  self-supporting  missions,  of  which  he 
wished  to  establish  1000  in  Africa,  have  come  to  almost  total 
wreck,  appear  now  to  have  been  entirely  given  up.  His  suc- 
cessor, Harzell,  although  himself  a  somewhat  enthusiastic 
optimist,  describes  them  as  "  a  comparative  failure."  On  the 
other  hand,  there  is  good  news  (about  2300  Christians)  of  the 
quite  solitary  mission  of  the  American  Southern  Presbyterians 
in  the  Kasai  region,  which  has  since  1891  been  centred  in 
Luebo,  not  far  from  Luluaburg,  and  that  in  spite  of  many 
difficulties  occasioned  by  the  Congo  Government ;  while  not 
much  can  be  reported  of  the  achievements  of  the  International 
Missionary  Alliance,  which  is  at  work  at  9  stations,  of  the 
Adventists,  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ,  or  of  the  Seventh-day 
Baptists.  Besides  these  10  societies,  with  together  over  150 
missionaries,  exclusive  of  women,  there  are  also  on  the  Congo 
individual  free  missionaries,  as  they  are  called,  of  whose  work 
one  hears  only  occasionally.  Altogether  the  Evangelical  Mis- 
sions on  the  Congo  in  1903  number  about  15,000  baptized 
Christians  (6500  communicants)  and  9000  scholars. 

What  presents  a  special  difficulty  to  the  young  missions  in 
the  Congo  is — apart  from  a  method  that  is  in  many  respects 
unsound,  and  the  frequent  change  in  the  mission  staff  occa- 
sioned by  the  deadly  climate — the  depth  of  heathenism  which 
is  met  with  almost  everywhere,  and  the  inhuman  cruelties 
practised  directly  and  indirectly  by  the  officials  of  the  Congo 
Free  State,  which  very  greatly  embitter  the  feelings  of  the 
population  towards  the  whites.1  The  difficulties  of  language, 
too,  are  very  considerable.  Even  the  eminent  achievements 
of  the  English  Baptist  Bentley  and  of  the  Swede  Westlind  are 
only  the  first  attempts  at  the  opening  up  of  some  of  the  Congo 
languages.  The  unwise  beginning  of  missions  almost  simul- 
taneously among  many  tribes  speaking  quite  different  languages, 
has  set  linguistic  problems  for  the  solution  of  which  especially 
the  poorly  educated  missionaries  of  the  Guinness  and  Alliance 
kind  have  not  shown  themselves  competent.  In  all  the 
missions  referred  to,  the  aim  from  the  outset  is  to  make  the 
native  congregations  themselves  take  the  chief  share  of  the 
work  of  Christianisation,  in  order  to  make  the  mission  as  little 
as  possible  dependent  on  the  white  staff,  of  whom  so  high  a 
percentage  fall  victims  to  the  climate,  and  that  only  too  often 

1  Bulletin  Officicl  do.  Vital  Independent  du  Congo,  1905,  Nos.  9  and  10.— 
Compare  T lie  Report  of  Kin g  Leojwld's  Commission  of  Enquiry :  Its  ad/missions 
and  suggestions,  its  reticences  and  omissions,  by  the  Congo  Reform  Association, 
Liverpool,  1905. 


AFRICA  231 

in  the  first  years  of  residence  on  the  Congo.  This  method, 
altogether  right  in  principle,  is  in  practice  caricatured  through 
excessive  haste,  when  natives,  still  wholly  immature  as 
Christians,  as  repeatedly  happens,  who  themselves  do  not  yet 
understand  the  most  elementary  truths  of  the  Gospel,  are 
employed  as  evangelists,  and  when,  nevertheless,  too  sanguine 
hopes  are  built  on  the  very  bungling  work  of  these  young 
evangelists.  When  one  takes  into  account  the  shortness  of 
the  time,  the  frequent  deaths  and  the  consequent  interruption 
of  work,  the  difficulties  of  language,  the  deep  religious  and 
moral  degradation  of  the  people,  and  the  numerous  scandals 
occasioned  by  the  whites,  the  15,000  Christians  and  the  9000 
scholars  who  have  been  gathered  up  till  now  are  by  no  means 
contemptible  first-fruits,  and  give  assurance  of  a  larger  harvest 
in  the  future.  Besides  this,  however,  a  great  influence  on  the 
side  of  morality  and  civilisation  has  already  been  exerted 
which  cannot  be  statistically  registered.  It  is  still,  of  course, 
a  very  elementary  Christianity  that  is  found  in  the  young 
congregations,  but  there  are  not  wanting  individual  proofs  that 
it  has  already  shown  its  life-transforming  power.  There  has 
been  heroic  self-sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  numerous  mission- 
aries who  have  found  their  graves  on  the  Congo, — the  family 
Comber,  for  example,  six  members  of  which  have  given  up 
their  lives, — and  when  the  natives  are  saying  of  these  men, 
"  How  they  must  love  us,  to  die  for  us  ! "  there  is  justification 
for  the  hope  that  these  many  wheat-corns  laid  in  the  Congo 
earth  will  bear  fruit. 

166.  In  the  Portuguese  colony  of  Angola,  lying  south  of  the 
Congo,  there  are,  besides  the  Baptist  Mission  in  Salvador,  two 
other  evangelical  missions.  (1)  The  mission  formerly  inaugur- 
ated by  W.  Taylor  in  Loanda  with  great  boasting,  which  is  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  American  Meth.  Episc.  Church,  and  has 
been  reduced  by  it  to  5  stations  and  6  industrial  schools. 
(2)  The  work  begun  by  the  American  Board  in  1881  in  the 
kingdom  of  Bihe,  with  4  stations  and  diligent  literary  and  edu- 
cational work,  is  much  more  solid ;  and  yet  the  numerical  result 
of  at  present  about  1250  Christians  has  been  very  slowly  attained. 

167.  A  pious  free  missionary,  Arnot,  belonging  to  the 
Plymouth  Brethren,  began  an  independent  mission  in  1886  in 
the  kingdom  of  Garenganze  or  Katanga,  which  is  reckoned  in 
the  Congo  State,  eastward  of  the  Portuguese  territory,  between 
the  Lualaba  and  the  Lufira,  which  unite  and  fall  into  the 
Upper  Congo.  This  mission,  with  16  missionaries,  has  occupied 
7  mission  centres  from  Bihe"  to  Lake  Mweru,  and  has  begun 
to  gather  small  congregations.  The  most  hopeful  work  is  that 
on  Lake  Mweru. 


232  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

167a.  As  early  as  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  and  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth,  when  the  Portuguese  began  to  gain  a  footing,  wide  stretches 
of  West  Africa  were  a  sphere  of  Catholic  mission  work,  but  of  their  proud 
results  there  remain,  since  the  downfall  of  Portuguese  power,  only  some 
miserable  ruins.  It  is  true  that  in  1765,  in  connection  with  the 
acquisitions  made  by  France  in  Senegambia,  the  mission  was  in  part 
revived  and  gradually  grew,  until  in  1842  an  Apostolic  Vicariate,  including 
Guinea  and  Senegambia,  was  established.  For  a  long  time,  however,  it 
had  no  notable  success.  Only  in  consequence  of  the  progress  of  evan- 
gelical missions  did  an  active  zeal  begin  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  Catholic 
mission  of  this  as  of  many  other  districts  ;  in  increasing  measure  it 
entered  into  competition  with  evangelical  missions  ;  it  occupied  partly 
the  spheres  they  had  already  taken  possession  of,  partly,  and  in  common 
with  the  evangelical  mission,  regions  recently  opened  up  by  discoveries 
and  annexation,  and  partly  its  own  old  territories  ;  and  it  divided  the 
earlier  ecclesiastical  divisions  into  an  ever-increasing  number  of  Apostolic 
Prefectures  and  Vicariates. 

Taken  in  geographical  order,  these  are  : — 

1.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Senegambia  and  the  Prefecture  of  Senegal, 
which  forms  part  of  it.  The  former  has  19  chief  stations  (the  central  one 
Dakar),  the  latter  only  2  (St.  Louis  and  Goree),  and  together  they  are 
occupied  by  45  European  priests  as  well  as  a  large  number  of  lay  brothers 
and  sisters.  Under  their  care  there  are  some  15,000  Catholic  Christians. 
(C.S.Sp.)1 

2.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  French  Guinea  between  the  small 
isolated  Portuguese  possession  and  Sierra  Leone,  which  was  separated 
from  Senegambia  and  Sierra  Leone  in  1897,  has  4  stations  (Konakry  the 
chief  station),  3  priests,  and  about  1100  Catholics.     (C.S.Sp.) 

3.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Sierra  Leone,  constituted  in  1853,  to 
which,  however,  Liberia  also  belongs,  has  4  chief  stations  (Freretown), 
7  priests,  and  2800  Catholic  Christians.     (C.S.Sp.) 

4.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  the  Ivory  Coast,  which  lies  in  French 
territory  and  was  only  made  independent  in  1895,  has  7  stations  (Gr. 
Bassam),  350  Christians,  and  16  European  missionaries.     (L.S.) 

5.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  the  Gold  Coast,  which  was  made  in- 
dependent in  1879,  has  6  chief  stations  (Elmina,  Cape  Coast,  Akra),  5650 
Catholics,  1770  pupils  in  13  schools,  and  16  European  missionaries.     (L.S.) 

6.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Togo,  which  includes  the  German 
Protectorate  of  that  name,  and  was  made  independent  in  1892,  has  5  chief 
stations  (Lome),  some  1900  Catholics,  about  the  same  number  of  pupils  in 
its  schools,  and  16  priests.     (S.V.S.) 

7.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Dahomey,  founded  in  the  French 
territory  of  that  name  in  1882,  has  6  chief  stations  (Ague,  Weida,  Gr. 
Popo),  5200  Catholics,  22  European  missionaries.     (L.S.) 

8.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Benin  Coast,  which  has  been  re- 
peatedly reconstituted  since  its  inception  in  1870  and  finally  in  1901, 
stretches  along  the  coast  of  the  English  colony  of  Lagos  and  Yoruba 
(Abeokuta  and  Ibadan),  which  it  has  divided  into  three  districts,  with  8 
stations,  about  6000  Catholics,  and  a  numerous  staff  of  workers  (27 
fathers,  4  brothers,  and  28  sisters).     (L.S.) 

9  and  10.  The  two  Apostolic  Prefectures  of  Lower  and  Upper  A7  <  ia, 
founded  respectively  in  1889  and  1894  on  either  bank  of  the  Benue,  have 
between  them  (3  +  7)  10  chief  stations  (Onitsha,  Lokodscha),  1200  +  350 
Catholics,  and  26  priests.     Especially  on  the  Lower  Niger  the  work  prin- 

1  The  initials  refer  to  the  missionary  organisations  at  work  in  the  regions  in 
question  (see  p.  164). 


AFRICA  233 

cipally  consists  of  au   active  propaganda  among  evangelical  converts. 
(C.S.Sp.  and  L.S.) 

A  Catholic  mission  has  just  recently  made  its  waj'  into  Old  Calabar, 
and  opened  a  school  in  Duke  Town  and  built  a  church  ;  but  it  has  not 
gained  much  entry  among  the  Efik  population.  It  belongs  presumably 
to  the  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Lower  Nigeria. 

11.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Fernando  Po,  which  covers  all  the 
Spanish  territory  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  and  was  constituted  as  early  as 
1740,  though  it  was  re-manned  after  long  neglect  only  in  1855,  includes 
10  chief  stations  (St.  Isabel),  3400  Catholics,  640  pupils  in  12  schools, 
and  a  very  numerous  staff  of  over  70  workers.     (S.U.H.) 

12.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Camerun,  which  covers  the  German 
Protectorate  of  the  same  name,  was  constituted  in  1890,  and  has  in  con- 
nection with  7  stations  some  3500  Catholic  Christians,  under  the  care  of 
12  fathers,  25  brothers,  and  16  sisters.     (Pa.) 

13-15.  The  great  region  colonised  by  the  French  and  known  to-day 
as  the  French  Congo  includes  3  Apostolic  Vicariates  established  partly  on 
old  Catholic  missionary  territory  :  A.  Gabun,  with  1200  Catholics  at  12 
chief  stations  (Libreville),  under  the  care  of  34  priests,  20  lay  brothers, 
and  27  sisters  ;  B.  The  Lower  French  Congo,  with  9  chief  stations  (the 
central  one  being  Loango),  2800  Catholics,  and  21  priests  ;  C.  The  Upper 
French  Congo,  or  Ubangi,  with  some  2500  Catholics,  6  chief  stations 
(Brazzaville),  and  a  staff  of  some  40  priests,  lav  brothers,  and  sisters. 
(C.S.Sp.) 

16-20.  The  very  extensive  Catholic  mission  in  the  Congo  Free  State, 
which  is  under  the  patronage  of  the  Government  and  of  about  the  same 
age  as  the  evangelical  mission  to  that  land,  is  now  divided  into  5  Apostolic 
Prefectures  or  Vicariates  :  A.  The  Belgian  Congo,  with  8  chief  stations 
(Leopoldville)  and  some  5000  Catholics  (6000  catechumens) ;  B.  Upper 
Kasai,  5  chief  stations  (Luluaburg)  and  3700  Catholics  (1000  catechu- 
mens) ;  C.  Kivango  (on  the  Congo  railroad),  5  chief  stations  (Ki  Santu), 
2400  Catholics  (1600  catechumens) ;  D.  Uelle,  with  3  chief  stations 
(Amadi)  and  1400  Catholics  (300  catechumens) ;  and  E.  The  Upper  Congo 
on  the  extreme  east,  7  chief  stations  (Beaudouinville),  2700  Catholics 
(11,000  catechumens  !).  The  full  staff  of  male  workers  numbers  154,  that 
of  female  workers  88.     (W.V.— S.C.H.— S.J.— P.T.) 

The  Bishopric  of  Angola,  founded  as  early  as  1596,  but  subsequently 
allowed  to  fall  into  sad  neglect,  and  the  number  of  Catholics  in  which, 
at  the  present  time,  I  am  unable  to  state,  no  longer  finds  a  place  in 
missionary  statistics.  Of  the  two  Apostolic  Prefectures  in  Angola,  that 
of  the  Lower  Congo  is  an  ancient  Portuguese  diocese  with  some  5500 
Catholics,  and  the  other  one,  called  Cimbebasia,  superior  and  stretching 
as  far  as  the  Kunene  river,  with  its  7000  Catholics,  also  seems  to  cover  a 
much  earlier  ecclesiastical  territory.     (S.C.H. — C.S.Sp.) 

The  total  number  of  Catholics  in  the  West  African  mission  field,  in  so 
far  as  it  lies  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Propaganda,  amounts,  according 
to  the  above  account,  to  a  round  figure  of  at  most  100,000. 

Section  2.  South  Africa 

168.  The  second  great,  and  very  predominantly  evangelical, 
mission  field  of  the  Dark  Continent  is  South  Africa.  By  the 
term  we  understand  that  whole  part  of  Africa,  from  Cape 
Town  in  the  south,  that  is  bounded  northwards  by  the  Kunene 
river  on  the  west,  and  by  the  Zambesi  on  the  east. 


234  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Besides  the  Bantu  negroes,  split  up  in  their  numerous 
tribes,  we  encounter  here  a  population  quite  distinct  in  kind, 
which  has  probably  been  the  genuine  South  African  popula- 
tion, but  to-day  consists  only  of  remnants,  some  of  which  are 
very  degraded,  the  Hottentots  (Nama)  and  their  kinsmen  the 
Bushmen.  In  addition,  South  Africa  is  inhabited  by  a  steadily 
increasing  number  of  white  immigrants,  who  are  debarred  from 
the  West  Coast  and  its  hinterlands  by  the  climate.  If  the 
mingling  of  the  different  races  and  tribes  of  the  coloured 
people  is  itself  great,  the  white  element  also  adds  considerably 
to  the  half-breed  population.  The  white  population,  which 
numbers  now  at  least  800,00c),1  by  reason  of  its  superior 
civilisation  and  its  increasing  hold  on  the  land,  has  the  in- 
dustrial power  every  year  more  and  more  in  its  own  hands, 
as  it  also  already  possesses,  or  is  striving  to  attain,  political 
dominion  over  the  natives.  When  these  facts  are  considered, 
it  becomes  evident  that  an  ethnographical,  national,  and  social 
decomposition  of  the  native  population  is  going  on  with 
irresistible  necessity;  and  thus  the  attainment  of  the  aim 
of  missions,  the  founding  of  independent  national  churches,  is 
either  rendered  quite  impossible  or  is  at  least  made  very  difficult. 
This  decomposition  has  not  indeed  been  able  as  yet  to  suppress 
the  native  languages,  but  their  domain  is  crumbling  away 
more  and  more  with  the  advance  of  Dutch  and  English,  and 
in  this  way,  too,  the  melancholy  process  of  denationalisation 
is  being  hastened.  The  rule  of  the  Christian  civilised  powers 
might  be  made  a  great  blessing  for  the  education  of  the  natives 
in  civilisation,  and  also  indirectly  for  their  Christianisation,  if 
it  were  exercised  with  justice,  philanthropy,  and  fatherly  care 
for  their  welfare.  Such  blessing  has  not  been  entirely  want- 
ing, but,  unfortunately,  in  place  of  these  virtues  of  colonial 
government,  there  is  found  more  and  more  the  most  incon- 
siderate oppression,  the  policy  of  which  is  to  make  the  native 
a  slave  of  the  white  intruders.  Almost  greater  difficulties 
than  those  due  to  the  power  of  heathenism,  which  is  not  yet 
by  any  means  everywhere  broken,  are  now  in  store  for  the 
mission  in  South  Africa  in  the  manifold  problems  connected 
with  the  race  question.  These  may  be  expected  to  lead  to 
many  a  struggle  yet,  not  only  between  blacks  and  whites, 
but  also  between  the  white  despots  and  the  missionaries,  who 
feel  called  on,  as  the  guardians  of  the  natives,  to  represent 
their  interests  in  so  far  as  these  are  bound  up  with  the  work 
of  Christianisation.     This  work  in   South  Africa  is  not  yet 

1  Before  the  South  African  war  this  population  was  composed  of  386,000 
Boers,  of  whom,  however,  only  155,000  were  in  the  two  Boer  States,  and 
407,000  non-Boers.  This  proportion  will  have  changed  after  the  war  much  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  Boers. 


AFRICA  235 

done,  but  still  among  not  a  small  number  of  tribes  Christianity 
has  already  become  such  a  force  that  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  its  victory  will  be  universal.  Among  the 
coloured  population  of  South  Africa,  numbering  about  4 
millions,  there  are  to-day  perhaps  600,000  Christians,1  under 
the  care  of  some  30  missionary  societies,  English,  German 
(with  120,000  baptized),  Dutch,  French,  Norwegian,  Swedish, 
Finnish,  and  American.  Everywhere  native  helpers  have  been 
educated  who  give  assistance  in  church  and  school ;  but  their 
subordinate  social  standing  and  the  lack  of  maturity  of 
character  in  most  of  them  prevent  the  native  pastors  from 
enjoying  the  respect  necessary  in  order  to  leadership,  although 
there  are  not  wanting  commanding  individual  personalties. 

Since  1892  a  movement  towards  independence,  with  the 
watchword  "  Africa  for  the  Africans,"  has  been  set  afoot  under 
the  guidance  of  native  ministers  among  the  coloured  popula- 
tion of  South  Africa,  as  far  north  as  the  Zambesi ;  but  the  re- 
presentatives of  all  the  missionary  organisations  in  South  Africa, 
even  the  Independents,  regard  this  movement  as  disastrous. 
It  is  known  as  the  Ethiopian  movement,  and  its  aim  is  to 
constitute  a  so-called  Ethiopian  African  Church,  free  from  all 
foreign  control.  The  movement  is  not  a  purely  church  move- 
ment ;  it  is  at  the  same  time  political  and  social,  but  comes 
under  the  race  point  of  view  in  the  first  instance  as  a  church 
movement.  Unconnected  with  the  secession  of  a  considerable 
number  of  Basoutoo  Christians  from  the  Berlin  Missionary 
Society,  which  took  place  about  the  middle  of  the  Eighties 
of  last  century,  the  Ethiopian  movement  began  among  the 
Wesleyans  in  1892,  first  in  Pretoria,  and  began  to  spread  after 
1896,  when  the  talented  but  vain  coloured  pastor  Dwane 
became  its  chief  leader.  In  the  first  instance  an  endeavour 
was  made  to  form  a  connection  with  the  African  Episcopal 
Methodist  Church  of  the  United  States,  having  5000  clergy  and 
700,000  communicants.  One  of  their  bishops,  Bishop  Turner, 
came  in  1898  to  South  Africa,  travelled  through  it  in  very 
theatrical  fashion,  performed  in  six  weeks  60  ordinations  and 
received  thousands  into  his  African  Church.  Dwane,  however, 
who  had  been  disillusioned  by  his  visit  to  America,  did  not 
find  what  he  sought  in  this  connection,  and  in  1900  he 
attached  himself  with  a  following  said  to  number  10,000  to  the 
Anglican  High  Church,  which  made  special  concessions  in  his 
favour,  and  received  him  into  membership  as  "  Provincial  of 
the  Ethiopian  Order." 

1  The  statistics  of  the  separate  missionary  societies  do  not  exhaust  the 
number  of  native  Christians.  According  to  the  Government  census,  the  number 
is  much  higher  than  that  above  stated. 


236  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

The  Secession  now  divided.  About  6000  communicants  with 
80  ordained  ministers  remained  with  the  American  Episcopal 
Methodist  Church,  which  sent  a  second  bishop,  Coppin,  to 
South  Africa.  Meanwhile  the  coloured  Baptists  of  the  United 
States  intervened  in  the  movement,  and  gathered  about  1200 
church  members ;  then  there  was  formed,  under  the  leadership 
of  Mzimba,  a  native  Lovedale  pastor  (of  the  United  Free  Church 
of  Scotland),  an  African  Presbyterian  Church  of  6500  members ; 
and  finally,  apart  from  various  smaller  secessions,  a  Zulu  Con- 
gregational Church,  which,  however,  after  obtaining  consider- 
able concessions,  united  again  in  part  with  the  American 
Board.  Altogether  about  25,000  adult  church  members  were 
drawn  into  this  Ethiopian  movement,  which  has  threatened 
almost  all  the  South  African  Missionary  Churches  with  con- 
fusion. 

What  makes  this  mixed  and  immature  movement  towards 
independence  so  serious,  is  not  the  division  and  extravagance 
which  it  introduces  into  the  coloured  congregations  —  the 
Ethiopians  do  nothing  for  the  Christianising  of  the  heathen — 
but  the  laxity  and  the  danger  of  a  moral  collapse  with  which 
it  threatens  Christianity,  the  lack  of  really  mature  spiritual 
guides  from  which  it  suffers,  and  the  distrust  which  the  white 
population  and  specially  the  colonial  authorities  have  of  it,  and 
which  may  easily  lead  to  regulations  injurious  to  missions  in 
general.  Joyful  as  is  the  welcome  given  by  evangelical 
missions  to  movements  towards  independence  among  native 
Christians,  yet  these  movements  bring  great  dangers  with 
them,  if  there  is  lacking  the  maturity  in  religion,  morals,  and 
character  which  is  the  security  of  their  soundness.  Among 
the  many  problems  which  the  complicated  situation  in  South 
Africa  offers  to  missions,  the  wise  treatment  of  the  Ethiopian 
movement  is  one  of  the  most  difficult.1 

To  these  problems  belongs  also  the  question  of  education. 
The  Anglicising  spirit,  which  would  make  the  English  language 
almost  exclusively  the  medium  of  education,  as  well  as  the 
vanity  of  the  natives,  which  readily  prates  with  a  great  show 
of  knowledge,  and  the  jealousy  of  the  whites,  which  would  not 
grant  to  natives  an  education  going  beyond  the  barest  elements 
of  knowledge,  make  a  pedagogically  sound  solution  of  this 
problem  almost  impossible.  Literary  works,  especially  trans- 
lations of  the  Bible,  exist  in  all  the  native  languages  of  South 
Africa,  even  in  those  which  are  being  driven  to  extinction  by 
the  Dutch  and  English. 

]  The  Christian  Express,  1903,  October  and  November.  The  Ethiopian 
Movement,  reprinted  word  tor  word  in  the  Missionary  Review,  1904,  434,  but 
without  any  indication  of  the  borrowing. 


AFRICA  237 

Finally,  there  is  this  farther  circumstance,  that  the  sad  and 
long-continued  South  African  War  between  England  and  the 
Boer  States,  apart  from  those  great  material  losses  which  it 
inflicted  on  the  missionaries,  particularly  on  the  Germans,  has 
left  behind  it  demoralising  influences,  whose  deep-reaching 
hurt  cannot  be  effaced  by  some  increase  in  numerical  results. 

169.  Our  survey  of  the  great  South  African  mission  field 
we  begin  with  German  South-West  Africa,  through  which 
passes  the  boundary  between  the  Negroes  and  the  Hottentots, 
and  which  stretches  from  the  Kunene  to  the  Orange  Eiver. 
Here  Ehenish  missionaries  have  been  at  work  since  the  Forties, 
first  in  Nama  Land,  then  in  Herero  Land,  and  recently  also 
in  Ovambo  Land.  In  the  last  they  work  in  company  with 
agents  of  the  Finnish  Missionary  Society,  who  settled  down 
in  1870  at  the  invitation  of  the  Ehenish  missionaries,  and 
have  gathered  at  5  stations  small  Christian  congregations 
with  1300  baptized  members.  In  Nama  Land,  on  both  sides 
of  the  Orange,  the  London  Missionary  Society,  which  has  now 
withdrawn,  opened  up  the  way  with  German  missionaries  from 
Jitnicke's  school,  among  whom  Schmelen  is  especially  out- 
standing ;  in  Herero  Land  the  Ehenish  missionaries  (Klein- 
schmidt,  Hugo  Hahn,  and  Brinker)  were  the  pioneers.  It  has 
been  a  laborious  work  of  patience  that  the  missionaries  have 
done  in  these  countries,  industrially  so  poor, — a  work  made 
difficult  by  the  great  inconstancy  of  the  Hottentots  and  the 
strong  opposition  of  the  Herero,  as  well  as  by  the  entangle- 
ments of  war, — and  more  than  once  in  Herero  Land  the  workers 
were  on  the  point  of  withdrawing.  But  German  fidelity  at 
last  carried  the  day.  In  1903  the  whole  of  this  great  region 
from  the  Orange  Eiver  to  beyond  Walfisch  Bay,  far  into  the 
interior  of  Great  Nama  Land  and  Herero  Land,  and  even  up  to 
Ovambo  Land,  was  covered  with  a  network  of  28  chief  stations 
and  42  out-stations,  the  most  important  of  which  are,  in  Nama 
Land,  Warmbad,  Bethanien,  Keetmannshoop,  and  Eehoboth : 
and  in  Herero  Land,  Otjimbingue,  Okahandja,  and  Windhuk, 
the  seat  of  the  German  Government.  All  the  points  that 
could  be  occupied  have  been  made  mission  centres,  and  the 
whole  population,  including  even  the  downtrodden  Bergdamra, 
have  been  brought  under  the  educative  and  civilising  influence 
of  Christianity,  although  the  total  of  baptized  Christians,  in- 
cluding those  in  Nama  Land,  has  only  reached  14,000. 

In  1884  a  portion  of  this  great  tract,  and  afterwards  bit  by 
bit  the  whole  of  it,  has  been  declared  a  German  Protectorate 
under  the  name  of  German  South-West  Africa.  Only  very 
slowly,  through  many  conflicts,  particularly  with  the  Nama 
chief  Hendrik  Witboi,  and  amid  many  mistakes  on  the  part 


238  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

of  an  oscillating  colonial  policy,  has  the  German  authority 
succeeded  in  planting  its  foot  firmly  as  far  almost  as  the 
border  of  Ovambo  Land.  But  when  the  conditions  at  length 
became  somewhat  peaceful,  there  was  on  the  whole  a  gratify- 
ing progress  in  mission  work,  in  spite  of  various  calamities, 
particularly  the  rinderpest,  with  which  the  land  has  been 
visited.  Then  suddenly  in  the  beginning  of  1904,  there  broke 
out  first  a  small  rising  among  the  Nama  in  the  south,  and 
then  a  great  rising  among  the  Herero  in  the  north,  and  then 
again  in  Nama  Land  a  revolt  under  the  leading  of  Witboi,  who 
had  hitherto  been  faithful  to  the  Germans :  a  turn  of  affairs 
whose  result  for  missions  is  at  this  moment  beyond  our  ken. 
The  shameful  attacks  which,  in  consequence  of  this  rising,  have 
been  directed  against  the  mission,  as  if  the  mission  were  to 
blame  for  it,  have  been  splendidly  refuted  by  the  facts,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  year  1904  will  radically  trans- 
form the  whole  aspect  of  the  Herero  mission. 

170.  The  chief  mission  field  of  South  Africa  is  Cape  Colony, 
which  with  its  annexes  (British  Kaffraria,  1865 ;  Griqua  Land, 
West  and  East;  Transkei,  1877  and  1872;  Tembu  Land  and 
Bomvana  Land,  1885)  has  a  population  of  about  1,150,000 
coloured  people,  among  whom  are  more  than  450,000  Christians. 
In  the  west  and  south-west  of  the  Cape  Colony  the  Hottentots 
are  in  the  majority,  while  the  Kaffirs  dominate  the  east.  Now, 
indeed,  hardly  any  pure  Hottentots  exist,  except  perhaps  in 
Great  Nama  Land ;  their  place  is  taken  by  a  population  that 
should  be  called  a  mixed  rabble  rather  than  a  mixed  people, 
being  composed  of  crosses  between  Hottentots,  Bushmen, 
Whites,  Malays,  and  negroes  of  various  tribes.  It  has  lost  all 
original  nationality,  and  to  some  extent  even  its  language, 
which  has  been  supplanted  by  a  corrupt  Dutch  mingled  with 
scraps  of  English.  Even  the  Koranna,  who  live  far  inland  in 
the  Orange  Free  State  on  the  Orange  and  Vaal  Eivers,  have, 
like  the  Griqua,  become  almost  a  bastard  people.  The  Kaffirs 
in  the  east  of  the  colony,  even  though  not  pure,  have  kept 
themselves  far  more  free  from  mixture.  Their  chief  tribes  are 
the  Xosa,  Pondo,  Mpondomise,  Tembu,  and  Fengu  (or  Fingu). 
Of  the  remaining  Kaffir  tribes,  there  are  also  Bassuto  in  the 
northern  districts.  In  the  case  of  all  these  Kaffirs,  too,  political 
independence  has  been  completely  broken;  but  yet  they  stand 
on  a  much  higher  level  socially  and  industrially  than  the 
mixed  Hottentot  population  of  the  west,  while  at  the  same 
time  Christianity  has  hitherto  not  found  among  them  so  much 
acceptance  as  among  the  latter. 

The  immigrant  white  population  consisted  originally  of 
Dutch  and   French  refugees,  who  gradually  became  blended 


AFRICA  239 

together  as  the  African  Boers.  Later  there  came  in  increas- 
ing numbers  Englishmen  and  also  Germans.  Between  the 
Dutch  and  English  elements  there  has  developed  more  and 
more  a  political  opposition,  which  at  a  former  time  expressed 
itself  in  the  founding  of  independent  Boer  States,  and  has  now 
led  to  new  complications  in  a  melancholy  war.  This  opposi- 
tion, however,  does  not  hinder  Dutch  and  English  colonists, 
who  in  common  style  themselves  Africanders,  from  being 
at  one  in  the  policy  of  oppressing  the  natives.  This  policy  is 
as  old  as  South  African  colonisation,  and  forms  a  dark  chapter 
in  the  history  of  colonial  politics,  which,  wherever  we  turn,  is 
so  rich  in  bloody  and  dirty  pages.  In  the  south  and  west  of 
the  colony  the  oppression  was  carried  through  violently  enough, 
indeed,  but  still  without  any  actual  wars,  while  in  the  east 
bloody  Kaffir  wars  have  repeatedly  been  waged.  In  spite  of 
all  the  successes  of  missions,  even  in  regard  to  civilisation, — in 
spite,  too,  of  many  endeavours  on  the  part  of  individual  well- 
disposed  colonists  and  officials, — the  abolition  of  the  old  racial 
enmity  between  the  white  and  the  coloured  elements  has  not 
yet  been  attained ;  it  is  still  to-day  a  burning  flame,  and  there 
is  little  prospect  of  the  attainment  in  the  future  of  that 
which  has  been  attempted  in  vain  in  the  past.  The  incor- 
poration of  the  coloured  Christians  into  the  white  congrega- 
tions, although  it  takes  place  in  isolated  cases,  is  a  very 
unlikely  solution  of  the  problem  of  the  formation  of  the  South 
African  Mission  Church. 

171.  Apart  from  sporadic  endeavours  to  gain  some  natives 
to  Christianity,  put  forth  by  some  preachers  of  the  Dutch 
Colonial  Government,  which  held  South  Africa  till  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  first  proper  missionary 
attempt  was  made  among  the  Hottentots  by  the  Moravian 
Brother,  Georg  Schmidt.  He  settled  at  Bavianskloof  in  1737, 
but  so  soon  as  1744  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  the 
country,  after  he  had  succeeded  in  baptizing  some  first-fruits  of 
his  labour. 

It  was  1792  before  the  Moravians  could  take  up  again 
the  broken  thread,  and  then — especially  under  the  British 
colonial  rule,  which  took  the  place  of  the  Dutch  in  1806 — 
they  succeeded,  largely  through  the  wise  guidance  of  Hallbeck, 
their  missionary  president,  in  laying  down,  one  after  another, 
9  stations  in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  colony,  at  which 
altogether  10,500  Christians  have  now  their  home.  Of  these 
stations,  among  which  Gnadenthal,  with  its  influential  school 
for  native  helpers,  is  pre-eminent,  part  are  institutes,  i.e.  site 
and  land  are  the  purchased  property  of  the  mission ;  and 
part  are  grant  plots,  i.e.  site  and  land  are  put  by  the  Govern- 


240  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

ment  under  the  management  of  the  mission  for  the  good  of 
the  natives.  Far  distant  from  this  western  region  the  Mora- 
vians have  another  field  of  work  in  the  east,  among  the  Kaffirs 
on  the  Kei  River  and  throughout  Kaffraria.  This  field,  which, 
owing  to  the  different  kind  of  population,  bears  quite  a  dif- 
ferent stamp,  is  occupied  at  10  chief  stations,  Silo  being  the 
mother  station,  at  which  there  are  6300  Christians.  While 
the  work  in  the  west  now  consists  chiefly  in  the  care  of  the 
congregations,  whose  financial  self-support  is  being  energetic- 
ally cared  for,  in  the  east  it  is  still  mainly  that  of  a  heathen 
mission. 

172.  In  1700  the  Moravians  were  followed  by  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  whose  pioneers  were  the  two  Dutchmen, 
Van  der  Kemp  and  Kicherer.  In  contrast  with  the  quiet 
work  of  the  Moravians,  that  of  the  London  missionaries 
bore  a  more  romantic,  but  at  the  same  time  a  more 
agitated  stamp,  especially  on  account  of  its  interference  in 
the  movement  for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  in  which 
Dr.  Philip  above  all  played  a  leading  part.1  After  a  fruitless 
attempt  among  the  Kaffirs,  the  London  missionaries  directed 
their  missionary  activity,  with  varying  success,  mainly  to  the 
Bushmen,  Hottentots,  and  mixed  people.  The  most  persevering 
work  among  them  was  done  by  Schmelen,  and  Moffat  also  was 
engaged  in  it  for  a  time,  and  made  a  great  sensation  by  his 
visit  to  Cape  Town  with  the  converted  outlaw  Africaner. 
Afterwards  Moffat  turned  his  attention  to  Griqua  Land,  and 
then  to  the  Bechuana  farther  north,  among  whom  he  worked 
many  years  in  Kuruman ;  and,  along  with  Livingstone,  his 
son-in-law,  he  gave  to  the  London  Mission  its  expansion  as  far 
as  Lake  Ngami  and  up  the  Zambesi,  lie  translated  the  whole 
Bible  into  the  Bechuana  language,  and  erected  a  seminary  for 
natives  at  Kuruman;  but  his  romantic  hopes  were  not  all 
fulfilled.2  At  the  end  of  the  Fifties  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  in  accordance  with  its  independent  principles,  set  free 
from  connection  with  it  also  the  congregations  which  had 
greatly  increased  in  the  east  of  Cape  Colony,  and  formed  them 
into  a  Congregational  Union.  This  Union  had  in  1002  about 
200  congregations,  including  out-stations,  with  26,000  com- 
municants (70,000  adherents),  and  is  reported  to  be  in  a 
satisfactory  state  as  to  church  concerns,  and  to  be  also  dis- 
playing missionary  activity.  One  learns,  however,  little  about 
them.     Soon  after  that  time,  too,  the  Society,  for  some  unin- 

1  Philip,  Researches  in-  South  Africa,  London,  1828. 

3  Moffat,  Missionary  Labours  and  Scenes  in  South  Africa,  lsted.,  1842.  The, 
lives  oj  Robert  and  Mary  Moffat,  l.y  their  Son,  J.  S.  Moffat,  New  York,  1866. 
Moffat  returned  to  England  in  1870,  and  died  in  1883,  aged  88. 


AFRICA  24I 

telligible  reason,  sold  the  institute  properties  to  natives ;  and 
since  the  experiences  connected  with  this  sale  were  particularly 
unfortunate  in  Hankey,  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Elizabeth,  that 
place  alone  is  still  continued  as  a  mission  station.  It  has  350 
communicants  and  1200  adherents. 

173.  The  "Wesley ans  were  third  in  order  in  beginning 
missionary  work  at  the  Cape.  After  a  stirring  but  incon- 
siderable and  temporary  work  in  Little  Nama  Land,  they 
spread  themselves,  under  the  capable  leadership  of  W.  Shaw, 
over  a  great  part  of  the  colony,  much  more,  however,  in  the 
east  than  in  the  west.  Of  the  10  western  congregations,  with 
over  6000  Christians,  the  most  important  are  those  in  Cape 
Town  and  Stellenbosch,  while  their  much  larger  eastern  colonial 
field  includes,  in  three  districts  (G-rahamstown,  Queenstown, 
and  Clarkebury),  100  congregations  or  stations,  with  over 
100,000  Christians.  The  schools,  including  the  boarding- 
schools,  are  numerous  and  well  attended.  Since  1832  the 
Wesleyan  Church  in  South  Africa  has  had  an  independent 
organisation,  and,  as  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  South  African 
Missionary  Society,  carries  on  a  mission  independently  of  the 
London  administration,  with  the  aid  of  many  native  workers. 
The  methods  of  this  mission  are  emotional,  but  not  always 
solid  and  discreet. 

The  Ehenish  Missionary  Society  has  its  Cape  field  of 
labour,  which  it  entered  in  1829,  exclusively  on  the  West 
Coast,  from  Stellenbosch,  near  Cape  Town,  up  to  the  Orange 
Kiver,  with  the  exception  of  its  station  at  Carnarvon  (formerly 
Schietfontein),  which  lies  a  little  to  the  east  in  the  Karree 
Mountains.  The  nearly  16,000  Christians  who  are  under  its 
care  form  10  splendid  congregations,  6  of  which  (Worcester, 
Stellenbosch,  Wupperthal,  Sharon,  Steinkopf)  number  between 
1500  and  3900  souls,  and  all  of  them  are  financially  independent. 
The  church  life  in  these  congregations,  of  which  some  are 
institutes,  is  very  active,  but  the  moral  life  leaves  much  to 
be  desired.  Notably  the  old  national  sins,  drunkenness  and 
impurity,  are  the  cause  of  much  trouble  to  the  missionaries, 
as  they  are  in  other  parts  of  Cape  Colony. 

174.  The  first  missionaries  of  the  Berlin  (I.)  Missionary 
Society  landed  in  South  Africa  in  1834,  but  they  began  their 
work  among  the  Koranna,  between  the  Orange  and  the  Vaal 
Bivers,  in  the  region  that  became  afterwards  the  synodal 
circle  of  the  Orange  Free  State,  although  not  entirely  within 
the  territory  of  the  Boer  Eepublic  so  named.  In  Cape  Colony 
proper  they  first  established  themselves  in  1838  in  the  south- 
west, and,  to  begin  with,  in  conjunction  with  the  South  African 
Missionary  Society,  founded  by  Van  der  Kemp,  but  at  that 

16 


242  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

time  somewhat  crippled :  the  first  station  was  Pniel,  and 
Amalienstein  was  added  after  a  decade.  Alongside  of  stirring 
revivals,  which  are  characteristic  of  the  first  period  of  South 
African  missions  in  general,  unprofitable  disputes  were  always 
recurring  throughout  this  initial  period,  and  they  only  ceased 
when  the  connection  with  that  Society  was  broken  off.  There 
arose  gradually  12  Cape  stations,  which  now  made  up  two 
synods — Cape  Colony  in  the  west  and  Kaffraria  in  the  east, 
with  together  7500  Christians.  In  the  latter,  which  at  an 
earlier  date  had  much  to  suffer  in  the  repeated  Kaffir  wars, 
Dr.  Kropf  rendered  noteworthy  service  in  connection  with  the 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Kaffrarian  tongue.  Apart 
from  these  two  synods,  there  are  two  other  Berlin  stations 
in  the  north  of  the  present  Cape  Colony — Kimberley  and 
Pniel,  which  are  incorporated  in  the  Orange  Eiver  Synod ;  the 
reason  being  that,  when  towards  the  end  of  the  Sixties  diamonds 
were  found  in  the  hitherto  desert  region  between  the  Vaal  and 
the  Orange,  the  Colony,  in  spite  of  every  protest  on  the  part 
of  the  Orange  Free  State,  annexed  the  whole  district  under  the 
name  Griqua  West.  In  the  first  decades  of  the  century  the 
London  Missionary  Society  had  maintained  a  flourishing  mis- 
sion here  in  the  midst  of  several  thousand  mixed  Hottentots, 
who  had  adopted  the  collective  name  of  Griqua,  but  afterwards, 
in  consequence  of  the  scattering  of  the  population,  it  was 
almost  entirely  given  up.  From  1870  onwards,  however,  the 
diamond  district  became  the  scene  of  a  great  confluence  of 
people,  coloured  as  well  as  white,  and  Kimberley  especially 
became  an  important  mission  centre.  This  rapidly  increasing 
locality  was  occupied  in  1874  by  the  Berlin  missionaries, 
taking  as  their  base  the  old  Koranna  station,  Pniel,  which 
likewise  lies  within  the  domain  of  the  diamond  fields ;  but  not, 
indeed,  by  them  alone,  for  the  Wesleyans,  the  Congregation- 
al ists,  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church,  and  the  Society  for  the 
Propagation  of  the  Gospel  are  at  work  here  among  the  coloured 
working  population,  composed  of  many  various  elements  and 
only  partially  residential,  and  numbering  in  all  about  90,000. 
It  is  evident  that  such  a  crowd  of  human  beings,  always 
coming  and  going,  drawn  together  only  by  the  pursuit  of 
money,  and  brought  into  contact  with  many  doubtful  white 
elements,  a  contact  full  of  temptations,  presents  a  very  hard 
soil  for  missions.  Still,  the  direct  and  indirect  result  of  the 
mission  work  is  by  no  means  inconsiderable. 

175.  Through  the  development  of  the  colonial  conditions 
within  Cape  Colony,  it  has  come  about  that  two  Protestant 
churches  have  to  a  certain  degree  gained  the  position  of  State 
churches, — the  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  witli  at  present  about 


AFRICA  243 

230,000,  and  the  Anglican,  with  about  75,000  white  members. 
The  former  owes  its  standing  to  the  former  Dutch  colonial 
rule,  the  latter  to  the  present  colonial  rule  of  Britain.  Till 
far  on  in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church, 
with  the  exception  of  individuals  of  missionary  zeal,  Van  Lier, 
Vos,  and  some  pious  laymen,  maintained  an  indifferent,  if  not 
adverse,  attitude  to  the  Christianising  of  the  natives.  The 
South  African  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  the  Extension  of 
Christ's  Kingdom,  which  Van  der  Kemp  originated,  never 
called  forth  any  fresh  missionary  work.  It  was  only  when 
new  spiritual  life  awoke  in  the  Eeformed  Church  of  the  Cape 
Colony,  chiefly  through  the  accession  of  some  Scottish  pastors 
(particularly  the  Murray s)  to  its  service,  that  a  missionary 
spirit  began,  about  the  middle  of  the  century,  to  be  aroused, 
which  led  the  church  to  a  growing  activity  in  missions,  not 
merely  in  the  Colony  but  also  beyond  its  bounds  in  the  Free 
State,  the  Transvaal,  Bechuana  Land,  and  on  Lake  Nyasa. 
Within  the  colony,  besides  missionaries  proper,  there  are  many 
pastors  of  congregations  who  are  engaged  in  the  work  of 
Christianising  the  coloured  people,  a  method  of  conducting 
missions  which  is  very  natural  in  the  present  state  of  things 
in  Cape  Colony.  The  number  of  natives  belonging  to  the 
Dutch  Eeformed  Church  far  exceeds  the  36,500  or  so  who  are 
gathered  at  the  34  mission  stations.  The  Government  census 
of  1891  give  77,693  coloured  Christians  as  belonging  to  the 
Dutch  Eeformed  Church. 

176.  Of  the  ten  dioceses  which  the  Anglican  Church  has 
in  South  Africa,  three  belong  to  Cape  Colony — Cape  Town, 
Grahamstown,  and  St.  John's  (Kaffraria).  All  the  South  African 
bishoprics  are  connected  with  the  High  Church  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  which  began  its  mission  work 
there  as  early  as  1820,  in  connection  with  the  British  occupa- 
tion of  the  colony,  but  did  not  prosecute  it  in  comprehensive 
fashion  until  thirty  years  later,  under  the  energetic  leadership 
of  Bishop  Gray,  who  was  afterwards  the  Metropolitan.  Its 
church  and  mission  work  being  so  indistinguishable,  it  is 
difficult,  particularly  in  the  diocese  of  Cape  Town,  to  deter- 
mine what  share  falls  to  the  latter.  In  any  case  the  share  is 
considerable,  but  on  account  of  the  deficiency  of  the  statistics 
the  number  of  coloured  people  at  present  under  the  care 
of  the  Anglican  "  priests "  cannot  be  determined  with  cer- 
tainty: according  to  the  Government  census,  it  is  69,269. 
Much  careful  attention  is  given  to  the  education  of  native 
teachers  and  pastors,  and  among  the  numerous  stations,  some 
of  which  have  large  congregations,  St.  Matthew's  (Keiskam- 
ahuk),  in  the  diocese  of  Grahamstown,  is  especially  worthy  of 


244  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

mention  on  account  of  its  famous  industrial  school.  St.  Mark's, 
in  Transkei,  with  its  congregation  of  about  3000  souls,  has  also 
won  a  good  name  through  Masiza,  its  excellent  native  pastor. 

177.  To  avoid  separating  too  much  the  work  of  the  indi- 
vidual societies  at  work  in  Cape  Colony,  we  have  already 
repeatedly  passed  from  the  western  to  the  eastern  part  of  the 
colony,  because  the  different  evangelical  missionary  societies 
have  unfortunately  not  confined  themselves  to  separate  spheres, 
but  work  in  a  very  large  degree  interlacing  through  one  another, 
and  in  consequence,  in  a  survey  of  their  labours,  a  certain  con- 
fusion is  quite  unavoidable.  If  our  arrangement  be  purely 
geographical,  we  must  repeatedly  recur  to  the  same  societies ; 
and  if  the  grouping  be  according  to  societies,  we  have  to 
make  leaps  geographically.  From  this  point  we  have  to 
do  with  societies  that  have  their  field  only  in  the  east 
of  the  colony.  As  has  been  already  indicated,  mission  work 
proper  predominates  here  much  more  than  in  the  west,  where 
it  is  already  receding  behind  church  work,  or  is  being  carried 
on  in  conjunction  with  it.  In  the  east,  too,  the  native  popula- 
tion is  considerably  mixed,  but  the  Kaffir  type  predominates, 
and  the  national  decomposition  and  social  deterioration  are 
not  so  far  advanced  as  in  the  west.  In  consequence,  the 
subjection  to  the  foreign  colonial  power  has  here  occasioned 
much  greater  struggles  than  in  the  west,  and  in  particular 
the  three  great  Kaffir  wars,  which  play  such  a  bloody  role  in 
the  colonial  history  of  South  Africa,  have  not  only  been  a 
hindrance  to  missions,  but  in  many  places  have  had  on  them 
a  very  destructive  influence. 

In  addition  to  the  Moravians,  the  Congregational  Union, 
the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  the  Dutch  Eeformed  and 
Anglican  Colonial  Churches,  and  the  Wesleyans,  the  other 
agencies  are  chiefly  two  Scottish  missions,  which  are  at  work 
in  the  eastern  part  of  Cape  Colony  among  the  Kaffirs,  the 
Free  Church  of  Scotland,  and  the  United  Presbyterians,  now 
amalgamated  as  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland.  The 
former  entered  on  the  work  begun  by  the  Glasgow  Missionary 
Society  in  1820,  and  extended  it  to  a  South  and  North  Kaffir 
Mission  on  the  two  sides  of  the  Kei  Eiver.  It  now  has  in 
both  together  10  chief  stations  and  many  out-stations,  with 
about  8000  communicants  and  catechumens  and  7000  scholars. 
Besides  the  stations  of  Cunningham  and  Burnshill,  which  have 
the  largest  congregations  (1500  and  1300  communicants),  the 
chief  centres  of  this  solid  mission,  the  influence  of  which  goes 
far  beyond  the  number  of  those  baptized,  are  the  two  famous 
educat  iona]  and  industrial  institutes — Lovedale/in  the  southern 

1  Lovcdah:   Past  and  Present,  Lovedale,   1667.      Stewart,  Lovedale,  South 


AFRICA  245 

Fingoe  district,  and  Blythswood,  in  the  northern.  The  former 
is  under  the  approved  leadership  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Stewart ; 1 
the  latter  was  erected  at  the  solicitation  of  the  natives,  who 
contributed  (£4500)  almost  the  whole  cost  of  the  building;  it 
bears  the  name  of  Blyth,  an  English  magistrate,  who  by  his 
just  and  humane  treatment  of  the  natives  so  gained  their 
affection,  that  they  erected  also  another  special  memorial 
of  him. 

The  Scottish  United  Presbyterians,  whose  work  also  bears 
the  stamp  of  great  solidity,  have  their  mission  field  likewise 
on  both  sides  of  the  Kei  Elver.  Of  their  church  members, 
the  number  of  whom  is  steadily  increasing,  it  is  reported  to 
their  honour  that  they  not  only  pay  the  salaries  of  their  own 
teachers  and  evangelists,  but  also  take  an  active  part  in  the 
extension  of  Christianity.  At  Emgwali  Station  there  laboured 
from  1857  to  1871  the  greatly  blessed  Tiyo  Soga,  the  first 
ordained  Kaffir  pastor,  who  was  as  deeply  grounded  a  Christian 
as  he  was  a  thoroughly  trained  theologian ; 2  at  present  his  son 
is  at  work  as  an  ordained  missionary  at  Miller  Station  among 
the  Bomvanas.  In  1902  these  two  Presbyterian  missions, 
which  have  been  somewhat  weakened  by  the  Ethiopian  move- 
ment, numbered  in  their  two  districts  of  Kaffraria  and 
Transkei  about  12,500  communicants  (25,000  Christians)  and 
more  than  12,000  scholars  at  their  24  chief  stations. 

The  comparatively  small  Kaffir  mission  conducted  by  the 
English  Primitive  Methodists  on  the  Upper  Orange,  and  the 
two  or  three  French  Eeformed  and  Apostolic  congregations  in 
Griqua  Land  East,  must  only  be  mentioned  in  passing.  We 
must  also  merely  name  the  missions  of  the  Anglicans  and 
Wesleyans,  with  perhaps  4500  Kaffirs  baptized,  in  Pondo  Land, 
which  is  not  yet  incorporated  with  the  colony. 

178.  In  the  north,  along  the  coast,  the  colony  marches  with 
Natal  and  Zululand,  with  a  population  together  of  795,000 
natives  and  70,000  coolies,  imported  mostly  from  India,  while 
the  white  population  is  only  about  65,000.  Since  1897  the 
British  province  of  Zululand  has  been  incorporated  in  the 
colony  of  Natal,  which  has  been  furnished  with  a  relatively 
independent  administration,  so  that  both  now  form  one 
political  whole.  The  Zulu  tribes  who  live  here,  and  who  are 
considerably  different  from  the  other  Kaffirs,  have  sowed  much 

Africa,  illustrated  by  50  Views,  Edin.  1894.  Young,  African  Wastes  Reclaimed, 
Illustrated  in  the  Story  of  the  Lovedale  Mission,  London,  1902. 

1  [Dr.  Stewart  died  on  21st  December  1905.  The  Rev.  James  Henderson, 
M.A.,  formerly  of  Livingstonia,  has  been  appointed  to  succeed  him  as  Principal 
of  Lovedale. — Ed.] 

2  Chalmers,  Tiyo  Soga:  a  Page  of  South  African  Mission  Work.  2nd  ed., 
Edin.  1873. 


246  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

bloody  seed  under  their  notorious  chiefs,  Chaka,  Dingaan, 
Umselekasi,  Ponda,  and  Cetewayo.  Since  the  end  of  1879 
their  power  has  been  broken,  but  not  the  resistance  of  their 
hearts  to  the  Gospel.  The  Zulu  Kaffirs  have  formed  up  to  the 
present  time  a  difficult  mission  field,  though  under  British 
rule  they  have  been  treated  with  the  greatest  forbearance, — 
perhaps  with  too  much  doctrinaire  regard  to  their  own  law, 
— and  have  been  left  in  possession  of  their  own  land,  and  on 
the  whole  have  become  prosperous.  Witchcraft,  superstition, 
polygamy,  unchastity,  immoderate  beer-drinking,  are  now  the 
chief  hindrances  to  successful  Christianisation.  There  are  at 
present  perhaps  some  58,000  baptized  coloured  people  in  this 
region,  and  of  these  probably  no  more  than  half  belong  to  the 
native  Zulu  population.  And  yet  for  some  fifty  years  active 
missionary  work  has  been  carried  on  to  an  ever-increasing 
extent,  with,  it  is  true,  numerous  interruptions  and  repeated 
disasters.  This  difficult  work  among  the  Zulus  is  shared  by 
American  Congregationalists,  South  African  Wesleyans,  Nor- 
wegians, Swedes,  the  Berlin  and  Hermannsburg  Societies,  the 
Anglican,  Scottish  Free  and  Dutch  Eeformed  Churches :  only 
very  recently  the  prospect  has  begun  to  be  more  hopeful. 

The  American  Board  was  the  first  to  obtain  a  firm  footing 
in  Natal,  in  1841,  previous  attempts  on  the  part  of  the 
Anglicans,  instigated  by  Allen  Gardiner  in  1834,  having  been 
soon  afterwards  again  broken  off.  By  faithful  and  solid  work 
amid  a  variety  of  experiences,  it  has  gathered  4300  com- 
municants (12,000  Christians)  in  23  organised  congregations, 
of  which  18  (Amanzimbote,  Inanda)  are  self-supporting.  The 
Wesleyans,  who  followed,  have  about  6500  communicants 
(18,000  Christians)  at  their  18  stations,  of  which  Edendale, 
Maritzburg,  Lady  smith,  Evansdale,  are  the  most  important. 
The  Norwegian  Missionary  Society,  with  the  small  Schreuder 
Mission  which  separated  from  it,  and  the  Swedish  State 
Church,  have  together  at  20  stations  perhaps  5000  Christians ; 
the  Berlin  Society  has  3300  at  7  stations ;  the  Hermannsburg 
Mission  has  7000  at  20  stations ;  the  Hanoverian  Free  Church 
has  2700  at  8  stations,  4  of  which  indeed  are  in  the  Trans- 
vaal ;  the  Anglican  Church  in  its  two  bishoprics — the  well- 
known  liberal  Colenso  was  the  first  bishop  in  Natal — has 
perhaps  7000  Christians;  the  Scottish  United  Free  Church 
has  over  5000  baptized  at  4  stations l ;  while  the  Dutch  Ee- 
formed Church  has  only  some  hundreds.  Lastly,  mission 
work  is  also  done  by  the  Wesleyans  and  Anglicans  among 
the  Indians  in  Natal,  who  have  been  imported  as  agricultural 
labourers  (1500  baptized). 

t1  Including  the  Gordon  Memorial  Mission. — Ed.] 


AFRICA  247 

179.  In  Swasiland,  which  borders  on  Zululand  to  the  north, 
and  has  a  population  of  65,000  closely  allied  to  the  Zulus,  and 
which  maintained  its  independence  till  1894,  and  was  then 
annexed  by  the  Transvaal  Boers  and  is  now  an  English 
possession,  missions  first  secured  some  firm  footing  toward  the 
end  of  the  Seventies  of  the  19th  century,  earlier  attempts  at 
settlement  on  the  part  both  of  the  Berlin  and  the  Hermannsburg 
Societies  having  proved  futile.  The  Anglicans,  who  erected  a 
separate  bishopric  here  in  1891, — Lebombo,  which  includes 
also  the  Portuguese  coast  territory, — the  Wesleyans,  and  the 
South  African  General  Mission,  have  some  stations,  with 
together  scarcely  1000  baptized.  More  successful  is  the  work, 
likewise  recent  (begun  in  1882),  of  the  free  churches  of  French 
Switzerland  in  the  Portuguese  territory  of  Delagoa  Bay,  an 
offshoot  of  their  mission  in  Valdezia  in  the  north  of  the 
Transvaal,  which  is  ten  years  older :  both  are  among  the  same 
tribe  of  the  Amatonga.  This  mission,  which  is  conducted  by 
excellent  missionaries,  has  over  2000  adult  Christians  in  the 
Delagoa  Bay  or  Lorenzo  Marquez  district.  Also  the  Wes- 
leyans and  the  American  Free  Methodists  have  some  stations 
in  the  Lorenzo  Marquez  district,  with  perhaps  600  baptized 
Christians. 

180.  Before  we  turn  from  here  farther  west  to  Mashona 
Land,  we  must  once  more  go  back  to  the  south,  in  order  to 
reach  the  Zambesi  through  Bechuana  Land  by  way  of  Basuto 
Land  and  the  Boer  States.  North-west  of  Pondo  Land  and 
Griqua  Land  East,  beyond  the  Kathlamba  (Drakenberg)  Moun- 
tains, we  enter  the  high-lying  Basuto  Land,  which  since  1884 
has  been  a  British  Crown  colony.  Its  inhabitants  form  the 
southern  branch  of  the  Sotho  negroes,  who  again  are  a  variety 
of  the  Bechuana  family,  which  extends  to  the  west  and  north. 
Expelled  from  their  former  eastern  habitations  by  bloody  wars, 
they  gathered  in  the  Twenties  under  their  young  chief,  the 
brave  and  gifted  Moshesh,  at  the  mountain  stronghold  of 
Thaba  Bosiu.  This  became  the  centre  of  a  Basuto  kingdom, 
which  at  a  later  time,  in  order  to  defend  itself  against  the 
neighbouring  Boers,  placed  itself  under  the  protection  of 
Britain.  Under  this  benevolent  protection,  which  has  wisely 
left  to  the  natives  a  great  measure  of  self-government,  and 
especially  under  the  growing  influence  of  Christianity,  the 
nation  has  attained  a  considerable  degree  of  civilisation  and 
prosperity. 

So  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  Thirties,  missionaries  of 
the  Paris  Evangelical  Missionary  Society,  who  were  seeking 
a  field  of  work  in  South  Africa,  had  come  by  a  remarkable 
leading  to  Moshesh,  who  was  anxious  to  get  missionaries  for 


248  PROTESTANT  "MISSIONS 

his  people,  and  the  woik  which  they  began  among  them  de- 
veloped, after  many  difficulties  had  been  overcome,  to  a  grati- 
fying success.  Among  the  excellent  missionaries  to  whom  the 
French  Basuto  Mission  owes  this  success,  Arbousset,  Casalis, 
and  Mabille  are  especially  prominent,  the  two  last  being  also 
distinguished  as  the  chief  collaborators  in  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  into  the  Sotho  language.  At  the  22  chief  stations 
and  almost  200  out-stations,  of  which  Morija,  Hermon,  Thaba 
Bosiu,  and  Thebana  Morena  are  the  most  important,  there  are 
now  15,000  communicants  and  over  7000  catechumens.  The 
congregations  are  well  ordered,  and  the  system  of  education, 
including  higher  education,  is  well  organised,  there  being  180 
schools  with  13,000  pupils.  A  large  number  of  efficient  native 
helpers  assist  the  missionaries  in  church  and  school,  and  the 
financial  achievements  of  the  Christians  amount  to  £4500 
($21,600).  In  1885  the  Basuto  church  there,  under  the  leader- 
ship of  the  heroic  Coillard,  began  a  mission  in  the  midst  of  a 
distant  isolated  Sotho  tribe  on  the  Zambesi.  This  mission  has 
been  attended  with  very  many  troubles  and  hindrances :  it  has 
now  8  stations  (Sesheke,  Lealugi,  Sefula),  and  after  a  long 
sowing  in  tears  begins  to  yield  a  harvest  of  joy.  The  Anglican 
High  Church  Mission,  in  spite  of  all  friendly  protest,  has  since 
1875  been  pressing  into  the  Basuto  field  of  the  Paris  Mission- 
ary Society,  where  such  good  work  has  been  done,  and  at  its 
7  stations  there  are  some  3000  Christians. 

181.  West  and  north-west  of  British  Basuto  Land  lie  what 
were  formerly  the  Orange  Free  State  and  the  Transvaal,  the 
two  Boer  Eepublics  which  came  into  being  after  changeful 
political  struggles.  Among  their  coloured  population  the 
Bechuana  predominate,  and  among  these  again,  particularly 
in  the  Transvaal,  the  northern  branch  of  the  Basuto.  In  the 
Orange  Free  State,  the  natives,  who  are  mingled  with  the 
Koranna  and  all  sorts  of  impure  breeds  (123,000),  are  in  a 
comparatively  favourable  position,  since  they  are  well  treated 
by  the  Boers  there,  and  are  provided  for  in  church  and  mission 
in  connection  with  the  congregations  of  the  Dutch  Reformed 
Church  of  the  country  (about  11,000  baptized). 

In  addition  to  this  pastoral  care  on  the  part  of  the  Dutch 
pastors,  which  embraces  a  great  part  of  the  coloured  population, 
mission  work  has  been  carried  on  here  since  1833  by  the 
Wesleyans  (now  by  their  South  African  Conference)  at  some 
10  stations,  of  which  Thaba  Nchu  is  the  largest  (7000  com- 
municants) ;  by  the  Anglican  Church,  which  has  had  hero 
since  1863  the  bishopric  of  Bloemfontein,  and  has  2200  bap- 
tized; and  by  the  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  which  has  laboured 
since    1834   at   Bethanien   among   the   Koranna.   who    have. 


AFRICA  249 

however,  in  later  times  been  almost  disappearing  before  the 
Bechuana.  The  Orange  Free  State  Synod  at  present  embraces 
8  stations  (6100  baptized),  of  which,  however,  those  belonging 
to  the  diamond  fields  are  situated  in  what  is  now  Griqua  Land 
West.  Besides  Bethanien,  specially  worthy  of  mention  is 
Adamshoop,  founded  by  Adam  Oppermann,  a  coloured  man. 

182.  Much  less  favourable  than  in  the  Orange  Free  State 
is  the  condition  of  the  black  people  (Bechuana  or  Basuto)  in 
the  Transvaal,  where  their  hard  treatment  became  a  tradition, 
although  personal  intercourse  afterwards  mitigated  in  many 
respects  the  legal  hardships.  The  chief  missionary  work  here 
is  in  the  hands  of  two  German  missionary  societies,  both  of 
which  carry  it  on  soberly  and  thoroughly, — the  Hermannsburg 
Society  since  1857,  and  the  Berlin  since  1859.  The  former, 
which  was  called  in  by  the  Boers  on  account  of  differences 
with  the  neighbouring  London  missionaries,  has  laid  down 
one  after  another  27  stations  in  two  circuits  (Kustenburg  and 
Morico),  of  which  Saron  has  a  congregation  of  5000  souls, 
Bethanien  of  3800,  and  6  others  of  over  2000  each ;  some  of 
these  stations,  however,  are  situated  to  the  west  of  the  Trans- 
vaal, outside  of  the  Boer  territory.  Altogether  they  represent 
a  total  of  46,200  Bechuana  Christians,  whose  numbers  are 
steadily  increasing.  The  Berlin  Missionary  Society,  whose 
Basuto  mission  in  the  Transvaal  has  had  an  eventful  origin 
and  history,  particularly  under  the  Chiefs  Maleo  and  Secucuni, 
has  now  at  its  29  stations  almost  28,000  Christians,  the  great 
majority  of  whom  belong  to  the  South  Transvaal  Synod,  in 
which  the  station  of  Bochabelo,  founded  by  Merensky,  is  out- 
standing, with  3800  Christians  (since  the  war  it  has  been 
divided  into  several  stations) ;  while  in  the  thickly  populated 
North  Transvaal,  in  which  are  also  included  the  two  young 
Bonjai  stations  north  of  the  Limpopo  in  Mashona  Land, 
the  hard  soil  has  begun  at  some  stations — Mphome,  Medingen, 
Modimolle  or  Waterberg — to  yield  a  richer  fruitage.  It  was 
Knothe  who  did  the  chief  pioneer  work  in  this  North  Transvaal 
district,  which  is  so  rich  in  promise  for  the  future.  Among 
the  Bapedi  Christians,  in  what  was  once  the  kingdom  of 
Secucuni,  a  separation  unfortunately  took  place  in  1890,  which 
was  favoured  by  missionary  Winter  ;  this  led  to  the  founding 
of  a  "  Free  National  Church,"  a  step  which  has  occasioned 
much  confusion.  In  the  North  Transvaal  is  also  situated 
Valdezia  (Spelonken),  the  little  mission  of  the  Swiss  free 
churches,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made. 

The  work  of  the  Dutch  Eeformed  and  the  Anglican 
Churches  in  the  Transvaal  is  of  little  importance :  the  latter 
has  here  another  bishopric,  Pretoria ;  together  they  have  perhaps 


250  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

5000  native  Christians.  On  the  other  hand,  the  English  (not 
the  South  African)  Wesleyans  have  a  mission  with  numerous 
stations  which  extends  throughout  the  whole  Republic  and 
Swasiland,  and  which  is  divided  into  three  sections — Central, 
North-east,  South-west.  This  mission  is  reported  to  have 
a  membership  of  8000,  but  it  is  not  quite  clear  whether 
all  of  these  are  natives.  Here,  as  almost  everywhere,  they 
intrude  discourteously  into  the  fields  of  other  societies,  while 
the  maturity  of  their  Christians  and  the  education  of  their 
native  helpers  leave  much  to  be  desired.  Their  European 
missionaries,  who  are  often  changed,  have  for  the  most  part 
only  a  superficial  knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  natives. 
Through  the  long  and  devastating  war  mission  work  has  suffered 
not  a  little,  but,  on  the  whole,  the  German  congregations  especi- 
ally have  remained  faithful  beyond  expectation.  Apparently 
the  English,  and  particularly  the  Anglican,  missionaries  will 
now  extend  their  work  in  the  Transvaal. 

183.  Between  the  [former]  Boer  Republics  and  German 
South-West  Africa  there  lies  the  very  thinly  populated  British 
Bechuana  Land,  which  consists  in  great  part  of  the  Kalihari 
Desert,  and,  to  the  north-east  of  it  and  directly  north  of  the 
Transvaal,  of  Matabele  Land  and  Mashona  Land.  As  has  been 
already  remarked,  there  is  a  line  of  old  stations  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society,  with  about  60  outposts,  stretching  through 
Bechuana  Land  as  far  as  Lake  Ngami  and  into  Matabele  Land. 
Moffat,  who  was  in  his  time  so  greatly,  perhaps  too  greatly, 
lauded,  founded  here  as  a  centre  the  station  of  Kuruman,  with 
a  very  costly  Theological  Seminary.  North  of  Kuruman  was 
Livingstone's  field  of  missionary  labour  (Kolobeng,  afterwards 
Molepolole),  through  whom  the  Christian  chief  Sechele,  who, 
however,  did  not  maintain  his  reputation,  has  won  a  world-wide 
fame.  The  chief  Khama,  formerly  at  Shoshong,  now  at  Phala- 
pye,  baptized  by  a  Hermannsburg  missionary,  has  also  become 
famous,  and  is  a  more  faithful  and  active  Christian ;  he  has 
displayed  great  energy,  particularly  in  the  struggle  against  the 
brandy  pest.  Unfortunately  this  old  and  once  greatly  extolled 
mission  field  of  the  L.  M.  S.  has  been  much  neglected,  and  the 
society  has  only  lately  begun  again  to  devote  some  more  atten- 
tion to  the  half-ruined  congregations.  Hardly  any  progress 
seems  to  have  been  made  within  the  last  decades  in  the  pro- 
pagation of  Christianity ;  at  least,  none  is  to  be  made  out 
from  the  extremely  scanty  reports.  The  number  of  Christians 
grouped  around  11  principal  stations  may,  including  those 
about  Matabele  Land,  amount  to  10,000  (communicants  3500). 
As  on  many  another  mission  field,  the  London  Society  is  here 
also  lacking  in  patient  persistence  and  educational  wisdom  : 


AFRICA  251 

it  does  much  pioneer  work,  but  it  builds  up  too  little.  In  the 
south-east  of  Bechuana  Land  the  Wesleyans  have  about  1200 
communicants  at  1 1  stations  (Maf eking) ;  and  in  the  same 
district,  but  farther  west,  the  Anglicans  have  as  many  again. 
The  results  of  the  little  mission  of  the  Dutch  Eeformed  Church 
are  unimportant. 

Northwards  from  Transvaal  and  Bechuana  Land  we  come 
finally  to  the  gigantic  province  of  British  Central  Africa,  or 
Rhodesia,  bounded  on  the  east  by  the  Portuguese  and  on  the 
west  by  the  German  possessions,  and  having  its  northern 
portion  on  the  farther  side  of  the  Zambesi.  This  recent  British 
possession  embraces  towards  the  south  the  Matabele  in  the 
west  and  Mashona  Land  in  the  east.  The  acquisition  of  this 
territory,  particularly  that  of  Matabele  Land,  which  lay  under 
the  atrocious  government  of  military  despots,  was  effected 
through  the  Chartered  Company,  founded  by  the  masterful 
Rhodes,  and  was  carried  through  amid  many  cruel  misdeeds. 
Now  the  land  is  at  rest,  and  by  means  of  the  railway  extending 
to  the  Zambesi,  and  the  consequent  laying  out,  with  magical 
rapidity,  of  a  number  of  large  towns  (Buluwayo,  Salisbury),  the 
basis  has  been  laid  of  a  colonisation  full  of  promise  for  the 
future.  The  native  population  of  Southern  Rhodesia  may 
number  almost  half  a  million.  Among  the  Matabele  the 
London  Society  has  been  at  work  since  1859,  but  only  since 
the  pacification  of  the  land  with  some  success :  at  5  stations, 
of  which  Inyati  and  Hope  Fountain  are  the  most  important, 
it  has  200  communicants  (2000  Christians).  Alongside  of  them, 
since  the  British  annexation,  the  Anglicans  and  the  Wesleyans 
are  carrying  on  the  most  extensive  work,  with  13  and  15 
stations  respectively,  while  the  American  Independents  and 
Episcopal  Methodists,  as  well  as  the  Berlin  Society  and 
two  South  African  Missions,  have  altogether  9  stations.  The 
numerical  result  of  all  of  them  together  may  amount  to  4500 
baptized  Christians. 

To  complete  the  survey,  although  we  thereby  cross  the 
Zambesi,  we  here  take  in  also  Northern  Rhodesia,  which  again 
is  divided  into  the  two  provinces  of  North-East  and  North-West 
Rhodesia.  In  the  latter,  inhabited  by  the  warlike  and  wild 
Barotse,  and  rendered  dangerous  by  its  deadly  climate,  the 
Paris  Society  began  in  1884,  under  the  leadership  of  the  heroic 
Coillard  (d,  1904),  one  of  the  most  self-sacrificing  as  well  as 
romantic  missions  of  the  present  time,  which  has  gradually 
expanded  to  8  stations  (Sesheke,  Sefula,  Lealugi).  Its  numerical 
results  are  still  small  (about  100  communicants),  but  its  moral 
results  are  important.  The  formerly  cruel  king  Lewanika, 
although  he  is  not  yet  baptized,  has  been  greatly  changed,  and 


252  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

instead  of  being  an  enemy  has  become  a  friend  of  missions. 
His  son  is  a  Christian.  Since  1893  the  Primitive  Methodists 
are  working  among  the  Eastern  neighbours  of  the  Barotse, 
contending  with  difficulties  similar  to  those  encountered  by  the 
Paris  Society ;  at  their  4  stations  they  have  only  some  first- 
fruits  as  result. 

183a.  South  Africa  is  comparatively  speaking  a  recently  entered 
sphere  of  Catholic  missions.  It  was  only  about  the  middle  of  the  19th 
century  that  they  made  a  small  beginning,  although  they  have  gradually 
extended  over  vast  districts,  with,  however,  but  small  success  up  till  the 
present  time.  With  slight  exceptions,  they  have  established  themselves 
everywhere  in  fields  already  occupied  by  Protestant  missions. 

1.  In  the  northern  part  of  German  South-West  Africa  there  is  an 
Apostolic  Prefecture,  called  Cimbebasia  inferior,  but  only  since  1892. 
Before  the  rising  of  the  Herero,  there  were  no  Catholic  stations  among 
them,  though  there  did  exist  a  Catholic  community  at  Windhuc  of  120, 
most  of  them  immigrant  Bechuanas,  and  in  the  north-east  3  stations 
(also  among  Bechuanas)  were  in  process  of  foundation.  Staff:  12  fathers 
and  17  brothers.     (C.S.Sp.) 

2.  The  southern  part  of  the  German  possession,  with  its  solitary 
station,  and  beyond  it  the  Cape  Colony  portion  of  Little  Nama  Land,  where 
the  chief  stations  are  situated  (Pella,  Springbock,  Calvinia),  form  the 
Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Orange  River.  1500  Catholics  are  reported  in  the 
same,  but  probably,  as  is  the  case  with  South  African  statistics  generally, 
this  figure  includes  immigrant  whites.     10  priests.     (O.S.) 

3-5.  Cape  Colony  has  been  divided  into  three  districts  since  1874  :  a 
western,  a  central,  and  an  eastern  district ;  the  first  and  third  form  an 
Apostolic  Vicariate,  and  the  second  a  Prefecture.  In  the  western  district, 
and  principally  concentrated  round  8  chief  stations  (Cape  Town)  in  the 
south-west,  there  are  some  6300  Catholics  ;  in  the  central  district,  in 
which  the  islands  of  St.  Helena  and  Ascension  are  included,  there  are  6 
chief  stations  (Georgetown)  and  about  800  Catholics  ;  in  connection  with 
the  13  chief  stations  of  the  eastern  district  (Port  Elizabeth)  there  are 
some  7000  Catholics,  of  whom  at  the  most  2500  or  3000  are  coloured 
people.  The  total  number  on  the  staff  of  workers  is  70  priests,  45  lay 
brothers,  and  360  sisters.  The  work  lies  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the 
secular  clergy. 

6.  Since  1850  Natal  has  formed  an  Apostolic  Vicariate,  and  in  connec- 
tion with  28  chief  stations  and  numerous  outlying  ones(Pietermaritzburg) 
there  are  50  priests,  over  100  sisters,  and  140  lay  brothers,  for  the  most  part 
Trappists,  who  maintain  a  famous  industrial  school  at  Marianhill.  There 
are  only  12,000  Catholics,  however,  and  a  considerable  percentage  of  these 
are  whites.     (O.E.) 

7.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Basuto  Land,  which  was  constituted  in 
1894,  reckons  some  6000  Catholics,  for  the  most  part  coloured  people,  in 
connection  with  7  chief  stations,  and  a  staff  of  14  priests,  7  brothers,  and 
30  sisters.     (O.E.) 

8.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Orange  River  Colony,  which  was  inde- 
pendently constituted  only  in  1886,  and  includes  also  Griqua  Land  West 
and  Bechuana  Land,  numbers  5600  Catholics  (inclusive  of  whites)  con- 
centrated round  10  chief  stations  (Kimberley).  Here  again  sisters  pre- 
dominate on  the  staff  :  14  priests,  7  teaching  brothers,  44  sisters.     (O.E.) 

9.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  the  Transvaal,  separated  from  Natal  in 
1886,  has  only  4  chief  stations  (Johannesburg),  with  perhaps  7000  Catholics 


AFRICA  253 

(inclusive  of  whites),  and  besides  15  priests  and  12  lay  brothers  about  100 
sisters.     (O.E.) 

10.  Lastly,  we  must  register  the  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  the  Zambesi, 
which  also  includes  Matabele  Land  and  Mashona  Land,  but  in  which  the 
work  is  "almost  entirely  confined  to  the  white  population.  (Centre  : 
Buluwayo.)  There  are  only  3  actual  mission  stations.  The  numerical 
result  of  this  self-sacrificing  labour  appears  to  be  but  small  as  yet.   (S.  J.) 

In  the  whole  of  South  Africa  there  may  be  about  16,000  Catholic 
converts  from  heathenism. 


Section  3.  East  African  Islands 

184.  Before  making  our  way  farther  to  the  north  and  into 
Eastern  Central  Africa,  let  us  leave  the  mainland  to  make  an 
excursion  to  the  islands  situated  in  the  south-east.  The  oldest 
evangelical  mission  is  to  be  found  on  the  island  of  Mauritius, 
a  British  possession  since  1810,  and  before  then  French,  which 
has  a  population  made  up  to  the  extent  of  two-thirds  of  im- 
ported Indian  coolies.  The  language  of  ordinary  intercourse, 
in  consequence  of  the  long  French  domination,  is  a  corrupted 
French,  and  likewise  almost  a  third  part  of  the  population  con- 
tinues from  that  time  outwardly  Catholic.  The  impulse  to 
an  evangelical  mission  was  given  in  1814  by  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  which  was  followed  by  the  L.  M.  S. 
Lebrun,  who  was  sent  out  by  the  latter  society,  succeeded  in 
the  course  of  decades  of  labour  in  gathering  some  congrega- 
tions with  several  thousand  members,  and  in  the  Seventies, 
when  the  L.  M.  S.  withdrew  from  Mauritius,  these  were  de- 
clared independent.  The  chief  work  is  now  done,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Anglican  bishop  of  the  island,  by  the  two 
Societies  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  C.  M.  S.  confining 
itself  to  the  imported  Indians.  Both  Societies  devote  special 
attention  to  their  schools.  There  are  altogether  perhaps  6000- 
7000  Christians  in  their  care.  The  mission  does  not  seem 
to  be  carried  on  with  the  energy  which  is  to  be  desired. 
Catholicism  also  predominates  —  a  survival  of  the  French 
occupation — in  the  neighbouring  Seychelle  Islands,  which  like 
Mauritius  are  now  British,  and  which  are  inhabited  by  a  small 
mixed  population  of  East  Africans  and  Creoles.  The  S.  P.  G., 
which  is  at  work  here,  numbers  about  800  Christians. 

185.  There  is,  however,  an  important  evangelical  mission 
field  on  the  French  island  of  Madagascar,  which  exceeds  in  size 
the  German  Empire.  It  has  a  population  of  some  3^  millions, 
allied  to  the  Malays,  in  which  the  Hova  and  Sakalava  are 
the  most  important  tribes.  In  1820  the  London  Missionary 
Society  obtained  a  firm  footing  here,  especially  in  Antanana- 
rivo, the  capital.     It  gave   special  attention  to  educational 


254  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

work,  which  on  account  of  its  value  for  civilisation  was 
encouraged  by  the  eminent  Hova  prince,  Eadama  I.,  who 
was  recognised  by  the  British  as  ruler  of  the  whole  island. 
Fortunately,  a  complete  translation  of  the  Bible  had  been 
prepared  and  two  congregations  of  living  Christians  had  been 
formed,  when,  in  the  middle  of  the  Thirties,  a  long  and 
severe  period  of  persecution  began  under  Queen  Eanavalona  I., 
who  was  hostile  to  foreigners  and  Christians.  During  its 
course  many  believers  lost  life,  property,  position,  and  freedom, 
but  in  spite  of  the  expulsion  of  the  missionaries  it  only  con- 
tributed to  the  spread  of  Christianity.  With  this  queen's 
death  in  1861  the  reign  of  terror  ended,  and  religious  freedom 
was  secured  under  the  short  and  troubled  rule  of  her  two 
successors,  Eadama  II.  and  Queen  Easoherina,  for  whose  favour 
French  and  British  made  rival  claims.  Then  under  Queen 
Eanavalona  II.,  after  her  own  conversion  to  evangelical  Chris- 
tianity, a  mass-conversion  set  in  from  1869  onward,  especially 
in  the  central  province  of  Imerina,  from  which  it  also  spread 
southward  over  part  at  least  of  the  province  of  Betsileo.  In 
the  more  remote  parts  of  the  island,  however,  especially  in  the 
west  and  north,  where  the  population  was  ill-disposed  towards 
the  ruling  Hova  tribe,  Christianity  found  little  entrance. 
This  mass-conversion  did  not  spring  from  motives  purely 
religious.  Although  the  queen  did  not  desire  to  make  her 
subjects  Christians  by  force,  yet  many  believed  they  must 
follow  her  example ;  and  as  there  were  not  wanting  over- 
zealous  Government  officials  who  represented  the  matter  to 
the  people  as  if  the  queen  were  ordering  baptism,  so  these 
considered  the  acceptance  of  Christianity  to  be  their  simple 
duty  as  subjects.  Thus  there  came  to  be  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  tens,  even  hundreds,  of  thousands  of  Madagascar 
Christians,  of  whom  naturally  the  great  majority  were  Christians 
only  in  name.  The  Christian  world,  however,  was  for  some 
time  intoxicated  with  joy  at  this  unexpected  movement,  re- 
garding it  as  entirely  a  mighty  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
more  so  as  the  reports  represented  it  in  extravagant  rhetoric 
as  a  new  Pentecost.  But,  in  any  case,  it  was  a  result  of 
the  highest  importance  in  missionary  history.  Almost  as  in 
a  night  a  great  evangelical  national  church  was  in  being,  and 
the  mission  directorate  saw  a  problem  set  before  it  which  de- 
manded for  its  solution  as  much  wisdom  as  devotion  of  energy. 
The  number  of  missionaries  was,  it  is  true,  increased,  but, 
owing  to  a  new  and  costly  undertaking  then  being  entered  on 
at  Lake  Tanganyika,  not  nearly  to  the  extent  demanded  by 
the  crying  necessity.  Much  attention,  too,  was  given  to  the 
training  of  native  helpers,  but  with  not  nearly  the  carefulness 


AFRICA  255 

and  thoroughness  which  were  to  be  desired.  Very  soon,  indeed, 
a  burden  of  care  was  laid  upon  the  missionaries  by  the  actual 
condition  of  the  new  Christian  masses,  and  began  to  sift  them, 
but  the  discipline  was  far  from  being  sufficiently  energetic. 
And  so  the  L.  M.  S.  has  only  imperfectly  succeeded  in  more 
deeply  grounding  in  Christian  knowledge  and  introducing  into 
Christian  life  its  280,000  Christians,  who  are  gathered  in  more 
than  1300  congregations,  the  less  so  as  the  greater  number  of 
its  thousand  and  more  native  pastors  were  only  in  a  scanty 
degree  equal  to  this  task.  There  were,  besides,  two  other 
mistakes.  Under  the  unhappy  influence  of  its  independent 
doctrine,  it  granted  independence  to  the  immature  Madagascar 
congregations  and  pastors  much  too  soon  and  in  far  too  large 
a  measure,  and  in  particular  it  favoured  the  formation  of  a 
fully  independent  Byzantine  Court-and-Palace  Church,  which 
acquired  more  than  60,000  adherents.  This  church  repre- 
sented chiefly  the  Hova  Government.  This  Christianised 
Government  has  of  course  done  much  good  in  legislation  and 
social  reform,  but  even  since  it  became  Christian  it  has 
practised  much  oppression,  and  because  it  failed  to  gain  the 
attachment  of  the  population  of  the  island,  it  has  indirectly 
paved  the  way  for  the  Jesuit  counter-mission,  which  since  the 
French  occupation  has  been  at  work  at  high  pressure. 

186.  In  addition  to  this  Society,  three  other  missions  took 
up  the  work  in  Madagascar,  —  the  Quakers,  the  Anglican 
S.  P.  G.,  and  the  Norwegian  Missionary  Society.  The  Quakers 
or  Friends,  urged  to  the  work  by  missionary  Ellis  in  1868,  were 
engaged  in  conjunction  with  the  London  missionaries  at  some 
stations  in  the  south-west  of  the  Antananarivo  district,  around 
which  12,000  Christians  were  gathered.  Then  work  was  more 
thorough  than  that  of  the  Independents,  and  in  particular 
their  school  and  medical  mission  work  was  highly  esteemed. 
The  S.  P.  G.,  which  entered  the  field  in  1864,  and  even  created 
a  bishopric  in  Madagascar  (which  led  the  Church  Missionary 
Society  to  withdraw  from  the  island),  had  some  14,000 
Christians  under  its  care.  The  Norwegians,  by  friendly  agree- 
ment with  the  London  Mission,  chose  the  Betsileo  province  as 
their  field  of  labour,  but  also  maintained  a  congregation  in  the 
capital,  and  afterwards  pushed  forward  to  the  West  and  East 
Coasts.  Their  work  is,  alongside  that  of  the  Paris  Society,  the 
most  solid  and  the  most  hopeful  in  Madagascar,  and  their 
missionary  administration  at  home  and  abroad  is  exemplary. 

187.  A  third  fateful  period  in  the  missionary  history  of 
Madagascar  began  in  1895  with  the  violent  seizure  of  the 
island  by  the  French.  This  occupation  gave  the  Jesuits,  who 
since  the  end  of  the  Fifties  had  been  forcing  their  way  into  the 


256  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

country,  the  opportunity  they  desired  of  turning  the  hatred 
felt  by  the  fanatical  French  colonial  politicians  towards  the 
British  to  account,  in  order  to  procure  by  skilful  intrigue  the 
systematic  oppression  of  the  evangelical  missions.  Under  the 
watchword,  "  French  is  equivalent  to  Catholic,"  the  religious 
liberty  which  was  proclaimed  with  so  much  display  of  rhetoric 
has  been  set  at  defiance.  Evangelical  Christians  and  native 
pastors  have  been  suspected  as  rebels,  imprisoned,  and  put  to 
death ;  many  evangelical  churches  and  chapels  have  been  con- 
fiscated ;  and  by  the  violent  introduction  of  French,  first  as  the 
language  of  instruction,  and  afterwards  as  only  the  chief  matter 
of  instruction,  many  evangelical  schools  have  been  ruined,  not 
to  speak  of  the  numerous  conversions  wrought  by  violence  and 
cunning  among  the  terrorised  people.  In  this  critical  situation 
the  Paris  Missionary  Society,  with  brave  determination  and 
brotherly  self-sacrifice,  has  come  to  the  aid  of  its  hard-pressed 
Madagascar  co-religionists,  by  sending  out  French  pastors  and 
teachers,  two  of  whom,  Escande  and  Minault,  were  murdered 
by  the  natives,  and  it  has  succeeded,  chiefly  through  two 
deputations,  first  Professor  Kriiger  and  then  Director  Boegner, 
not  only  in  checking  the  persecution  of  the  Protestants,  but 
also  in  procuring  for  the  non-French  evangelical  societies  the 
same  missionary  liberty  which  it  desired  for  itself. 

The  conflict  which  has  meanwhile  broken  out  in  France 
against  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  which  casts  its  shadow 
also  upon  the  French  colonies,  has  completely  put  an  end  to 
the  official  favouring  of  Jesuit  missions ;  it  has,  however,  at 
the  same  time  introduced  an  educational  policy,  which  makes 
a  religious  moral  education  very  difficult  in  every  mission. 

After  the  jealous  French  colonial  Chauvinism,  which  saw 
in  English  missionaries,  and  particularly  in  those  of  the  London 
Society,  enemies  of  French  rule,  had  been  in  some  measure 
tranquillised,  and  the  Jesuit  attack  on  evangelical  missions  had 
subsided,  these  were  again  gradually  rehabilitated.  The  Court- 
and-Palace  Church  had  indeed  almost  entirely  disappeared.  For 
the  rest,  the  London  Mission  had  suffered  most ;  the  number 
of  its  members  having  melted  away  to  scarcely  a  third  of  its 
former  magnitude.  In  1903  it  had  again  in  its  fellowship 
28,700  communicants  and  57,000  adherents,  whilst  under  the 
care  of  the  Parisian  Society,  which  had  to  take  over  not  only  a 
large  number  of  the  schools  of  the  London  Society,  but  also  of 
its  congregations,  there  were  in  the  same  year  about  112,000 
Christians.  The  Quakers  also  have  suffered  losses,  but  the 
former  standard  has  been  almost  reached  again.  Among  the 
Anglicans  the  membership  is  risen ;  it  amounts  at  present  to 
about  25,000  baptized.     The  Norwegians  also,  who  are  aided 


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AFRICA  257 

by  the  French  Lutherans,  have  more  than  recovered  their 
losses;  they  number  in  1903,  60,000  baptized.  Altogether  the 
evangelical  Christians  of  Madagascar  now  number  about 
280,000-290,000,  about  100,000  less  than  ten  years  ago. 
Painful  as  this  shortage  may  be,  it  can  yet  be  said  to-day  that 
the  trying  crisis  which  came  upon  the  evangelical  missions  of 
Madagascar  has  served  in  the  hand  of  God  to  purify  them.1 

187a. — The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Mayotte  and  Nossi-Be',  with  its 
46,000  Catholics,  has  since  1901  formed  part  of  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of 
North  Madagascar. 

Mauritius  and  the  Seychelles  have  been  bishoprics  directly  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Pope,  the  former  since  1847,  the  latter  since  1892,  and 
are  respectively  called  the  Diocese  of  Port  Louis  and  the  Diocese  of  Port 
Victoria.  The  number  of  Catholics  amounts  at  the  present  time  to 
127,000,  and  is  the  fruit  of  earlier  missionary  labour  begun  as  early  as 
1712 ;  it  can  with  as  little  reason  be  included  in  modern  missionary 
statistics  as  the  Catholic  population  of  Reunion,  which  belongs  to  the 
Diocese  of  St.  Denys. 

Madagascar  was  in  1829  committed  to  the  administration  of  the 
Apostolic  Prefecture  of  Mauritius,  promoted  to  the  position  of  an  in- 
dependent prefecture  in  1844,  and  in  1848  to  that  of  an  apostolic 
vicariate.  In  1896  this  was  divided  into  3  vicariates :  North,  Central, 
and  South  Madagascar,  of  which  Central  Madagascar,  which  embraces 
the  inland  provinces  of  Imerina  and  Betsileo,  is  much  the  most  important. 
Catholic  missions  to  Madagascar,  which  are  carried  on  chiefly  by  the 
Jesuits,  only  began  in  the  Fifties  of  the  19th  century  in  conjunction 
with  the  French  struggle  for  supremacy  in  the  island ;  in  1895  there 
were  41,135  Catholics  and  95,000  adherents.  Then  the  enterprise  steamed 
ahead  :  in  1898,  that  is  to  say,  not  two  years  after  the  French  came  into 
possession  of  the  country,  it  was  triumphantly  reported  that,  inclusive  of 
adherents,  the  above  number  had  risen  to  320,000,  and  it  was  declared 
that  "if  the  Government  had  not  made  the  mistake  of  permitting  the 
Evangelical  Paris  mission  to  remain  on,  the  whole  of  Madagascar  would 
have  become  Catholic  in  ten  years."  To-day  the  number  of  Catholics  for 
North  Madagascar  is  given  as  8000,  that  of  native  Catholics  as  3500 — for 
South  Madagascar  9000  Catholics — for  Central  Madagascar  118,411  (in- 
cluding whites)  and  over  200,000  catechumens ;  the  number  of  scholars 
all  over  Madagascar  is  given  as  120,000  !  The  staff  of  workers  consists  of 
80  priests,  50  teaching  brothers,  and  about  100  sisters.  (S.J. — C.S.Sp. — Lz.) 

Section  4.  East  and  Central  Africa 

188.  East  Africa  was  till  half  a  century  ago  a  completely 
closed  land.  Here  the  impulse  to  geographical  exploration 
was  given  chiefly  by  British  missionaries,  and  this  was  followed 
at  a  later  time  by  the  seizure  of  colonial  territory.  With  both 
processes  was  closely  associated  an  extensive  missionary  occu- 
pation. 

1  Ellis,  The  Martyr  Ohurch :  a  Narrative  of  the  Introduction,  Progress,  and 
Triumph  of  Christianity  in  Madagascar,  London,  1870.  Mullens,  Twelve 
Months  in  Madagascar,  London,  1875.  Cousins,  Madagascar  of  To-day, 
London,  1895. 

17 


258  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

In  the  year  1844  the  German  missionary  L.  Krapf,  a  skilful 
linguist,  who  was  in  the  service  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  after  unsuc- 
cessful missionary  attempts  in  Abyssinia  and  among  the  Galla 
tribe,  landed  at  Mombasa,  and  on  the  mainland  opposite  opened 
the  first  East  African  mission  station.  Two  months  later  his 
wife  and  only  child  died.  Himself  sick  to  death  with  fever, 
the  deeply  stricken  man  wrote  to  the  directorate  of  the 
society  the  prophetic  words:  "Tell  our  friends  that  in  a 
lonely  grave  on  the  African  coast  there  rests  a  member  of 
the  mission  which  is  connected  with  their  society.  That  is 
a  sign  that  they  have  begun  the  struggle  with  this  part  of 
the  world ;  and  since  the  victories  of  the  church  lead  over 
the  graves  of  many  of  her  members,  they  may  be  the  more 
convinced  that  the  hour  is  approaching  when  you  will  be 
called  to  convert  Africa,  beginning  from  the  East  Coast." 
During  his  convalescence  Krapf  projected  bold  plans  for 
the  realisation  of  this  prophecy,  plans  which  at  first  people 
smiled  at  as  idealistic  dreams,  but  which  are  now  actually 
in  process  of  being  carried  into  effect.  These  plans  were  (1) 
to  lay  down  a  chain  of  mission  stations  diagonally  across  the 
African  continent  from  Mombasa  in  the  east  to  the  Gaboon 
Eiver  in  the  west,  each  occupied  by  4  missionaries;  (2)  to 
establish  in  the  vicinity  of  Mombasa  a  colony  for  liberated 
slaves  like  that  on  the  West  Coast  at  Sierra  Leone ;  (3)  to 
obtain  for  the  conversion  and  civilisation  of  Africa  a  black 
evangelical  bishop  at  the  head  of  a  native  ministry.  In  1846, 
Krapf  gained  in  Johann  Kebmann,  like  himself  a  native  of 
Wurtcmberg,  a  fellow-worker  who,  in  spite  of  slight  success, 
held  out  with  heroic  patience  and  faithfulness  for  29  years 
at  the  station  of  Eabai  (Kisulutini)  till  relief  came,  while 
Krapf  had  to  return  home  with  broken  health  in  1855. 
Besides  important  linguistic  works  accomplished  by  these 
two  pioneers,  they  also  won  distinction  by  their  geographical 
attainments.  In  particular,  by  their  discovery  of  the  snow- 
capped mountains  of  Kilima  Njaro  and  Kenia  in  the  interior 
of  Africa,  and  their  communication  of  the  existence  of  a 
great  inland  sea  in  Central  Africa,  they  first  astonished  the 
European  geographers,  and  then  led  them  to  send  out  a  whole 
series  of  exploring  expeditions.  About  the  middle  of  the 
Seventies,  their  pioneer  labours,  linguistic  and  geographical, 
began  to  bear  fruit  for  the  mission  also. 

189.  Much  more  effective  even  than  theirs  was  the  part 
taken  by  the  great  Livingstone  in  the  opening  up  and  mis- 
sionary occupation  of  Central  East  Africa,  both  by  his  dis- 
coveries, extending  as  far  as  the  north  end  of  Tanganyika,1 

1  Livingstone,  Missionary  Journeys  and  Discoveries  in  South  Africa ;  New 


AFRICA  259 

and  by  the  impulse  to  the  continuation  of  these  given  by 
him  to  Stanley,1  and  by  his  summons,  untiringly  repeated, 
to  the  combating  of  the  slave-trade.  To  the  influence  of 
Livingstone  was  due,  directly  and  indirectly,  at  least  the 
first  starting  of  the  East  African  Coast  and  Lake  missions. 
These  missions  are  the  memorials  after  his  own  heart  which 
his  fellow-countrymen  have  erected  to  him  in  Africa. 

While  Livingstone  was  still  on  mission  service,  he  was 
occupied  with  far-reaching  missionary  plans,  which  had  for 
their  aim  to  open  up  to  Christianity,  in  connection  with  an 
organised  colonisation,  large  tracts  of  the  interior  of  Africa. 
This  African  explorer  is  by  God's  grace  distinguished 
from  the  great  majority  of  travellers  bent  on  discovery,  by 
this,  that  the  people  whom  he  got  to  know  were  of  more 
importance  to  him  than  the  countries  which  he  discovered, 
and  that  not  merely  for  their  scientific  interest,  but  for  the 
sake  of  helping  them.  The  advancement  of  the  welfare  of 
the  natives  had  for  him  greater  importance  than  the  en- 
richment of  our  scientific  knowledge:  he  was  impelled,  not 
by  the  ambition  of  the  scholar,  but  by  the  pitying  love  of 
the  Christian  philanthropist.  All  his  discoveries  had  as  their 
final  end  humane  objects, — the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
the  opening  up  of  roads  for  lawful  commerce,  the  introduction 
of  sound  culture,  and,  above  all,  the  propagation  of  Christianity. 
Once  he  wrote,  "  I  am  tired  of  discovery,  if  no  fruit  follows  it " ; 
and  at  another  time,  "  The  end  of  geographical  achievement  is 
only  the  beginning  of  missionary  undertaking."  Livingstone 
is  king  of  modern  discoverers, — a  king,  too,  who  sacrificed  him- 
self in  following  his  Saviour  that  he  might  open  up  the  way 
for  the  redemption  of  the  Africans.  Of  him,  too,  it  was  true 
that  the  corn  of  wheat  must  fall  into  the  earth  and  die  before 
it  can  bring  forth  fruit.  While  he  lived,  he  saw  little  of  the 
fruit  of  his  life-work,  but  on  his  grave  trees  of  life  have  grown. 
The  victorious  struggle  against  the  African  slave-trade,  the 
opening  of  the  interior  of  Africa,  and  the  abundance  of  new 
inland  African  missions,  with  which  we  shall  now  make  ac- 
quaintance, have  been  the  work  of  Livingstone  after  his  death. 

190.  So  early  as  1859,  on  the  occasion  of  Livingstone's  visit 
to  England,  there  was  founded  at  his  instigation  the  Oxford, 
Cambridge,  and  Dublin  Mission,  which  afterwards  assumed  the 
name  of  the  Universities  Mission.  Its  first  very  imperfect 
missionary  effort  in  the  Shire  Highlands  was  unfortunately 
an  utter  failure,  and  cost  the  leader,  Bishop  Mackenzie,  and 

Missionary    Journeys  in    South  Africa;  Last  Journals  in    Central  Africa. 
Blaikie,  Personal  Life  of  Livingstone. 
1  Stanley,  Through  the  Dark  Continent. 


26o  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

several  of  his  companions,  their  lives.1  Under  his  disheartened 
successor  the  mission  withdrew  to  Zanzibar,  where  it  confined 
itself  mainly  to  the  education  of  liberated  slave  children,  out 
of  whom  it  sought  to  train  missionary  helpers.  Until  to-day 
the  Universities  Mission  is  the  only  one  at  work  in  Zanzibar, 
but  it  seems  to  have  done  little  missionary  work  amongst  the 
proper  population  of  the  island.  Besides  the  ecclesiastical 
care  of  a  colony  of  former  slaves,  the  burden  of  its  work  lies 
in  its  educational  institutions.  Revived  by  the  events  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Seventies,  the  mission  again  extended  its 
work  to  the  mainland,  under  the  leadership  of  the  able  Bishops 
Steere  and  Smythies,  and  that  in  two  districts,  under  inde- 
pendent bishops.  These  districts  lie  partly  upon  (now) 
German,  partly  upon  Portuguese,  territory;  to  the  north, 
Usambara  (chief  station  Magila,  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  Msala- 
bani) ;  and  to  the  south,  Rovuma,  including  a  large  part  of  the 
eastern  shore  of  Lake  Nyasa,  the  headquarters  being  on  the 
island  Likoma.2  The  Christians  now  under  the  care  of  this 
mission  number  altogether  9000 ;  its  schools  are  attended  by 
5000  pupils.  It  has  a  large  staff  of  workers,  all  unmarried, — 
55  ordained  and  lay  missionaries  and  50  unmarried  lady 
missionaries.  Unfortunately,  however,  constant  changes  in 
the  staff  greatly  interfere  with  the  continuity  of  the  work. 
On  account  of  its  strongly  catholicising  tendency,  the  mission 
occupies  a  somewhat  isolated  position  among  evangelical 
missionary  societies. 

191.  The  first  impulse  to  the  beginning  of  the  modern  East 
African  missionary  epoch  was  given  by  the  energetic  action  of 
Britain  against  the  Arab  slave-trade,  which  had  its  chief  centre 
in  Zanzibar.  In  consequence  of  the  treaty  abolishing  this 
trade,  which  was  wrung  from  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  by  Sir 
Bartle  Frere,  the  British  warships  liberated  a  large  number 
of  slaves ;  and  the  embarrassment  of  the  British  Government 
in  regard  to  providing  for  these  slaves  was  met  by  the  offer  of 
the  C.  M.  S.  to  establish  a  refuge  for  them  near  Eebmann's  old 
station  at  Rabai,  on  the  model  of  Sierra  Leone.  And  so,  in 
1874,  there  arose  opposite  Mombasa  the  colony  of  Frere  Town, 
which  was  intended  to  become  at  once  the  centre  and  the  point 
of  departure  of  missionary  activity  in  East  Africa.  After  the 
overcoming  of  great  difficulties,  and  amid  frequent  complica- 
tions with  the  hostile  slave-holders,  the  work  was  slowly 
brought  into  order.     The  East  African  coast  district  of  the 

1  Rowley,  The  Story  of  the  Universities  Mission  to  Central  Africa,  London, 
1861. 

2  History  of  the  Universities  Mission  to  Central  Africa,  1859-1896,  London, 
1897. 


AFRICA  26l 

C.  M.  S.,  in  which  are  also  included  the  three  Usugara  stations 
situated  in  German  territory,  now  embraces,  besides  Frere 
Town,  10  stations  (Rabai),  of  which  3  (Taveta)  are  planted 
already  some  distance  into  the  interior  on  the  way  to  Uganda : 
there  are  in  the  district  2300  Christians. 

192.  The  second  and  more  successful  impulse  was  given 
by  Stanley,  who  had  already  made  a  name  for  himself  by  his 
discovery  of  Livingstone  at  Ujiji  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  and 
who  by  his  intercourse  with  the  discoverer,  who  even  as  a 
man  impressed  him  immensely,  was  moved  to  resolve  to  con- 
secrate his  life  to  the  continuation  of  Livingstone's  work. 
Soon  after  Livingstone's  death  in  1874,  he  entered  on  his 
famous  first  great  journey  through  the  Dark  Continent,  which 
determined  the  course  of  the  Congo.  On  this  journey  he 
stayed  for  some  months  with  King  Mtesa  of  Uganda,  and 
from  here  in  1875  he  wrote  an  enthusiastic  letter  to  the 
Christians  of  England,  in  which  he  challenged  them  to  begin 
in  this  kingdom  a  mission  of  civilisation.  The  letter  exerted 
an  electrifying  influence.  Means  and  men  for  the  projected 
mission  were  soon  forthcoming,  and  so  soon  as  June  1876  the 
first  8  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  belonging  to  the  most  varied 
callings,  stood  on  the  eastern  margin  of  Africa,  ready  to  enter 
on  the  long  road,  then  but  little  trod,  to  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 
This  bold  missionary  undertaking  has  had  a  history  full  of 
romance  and  vicissitude,  as  rich  in  suffering  as  in  surprising- 
results.  At  first  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  mission  were 
the  difficulty  of  communication,  the  unhealthiness  of  the 
climate,  the  capriciousness  of  the  despotic  King  Mtesa,1  the 
Roman  Catholic  intrusion,  the  recrudescence  of  heathenism, 
and  the  emulation  of  the  Mohammedans.  Under  Mtesa's 
successor,  the  young  debauchee  Mwanga,  there  occurred  also 
bloody  persecutions  of  the  Uganda  Christians,  then  but  few 
in  number,  the  murder  of  the  missionary,  Bishop  Hannington,2 
devastating  revolutions,  and  the  fatal  intermeddling  of  the 
European  colonial  policy,  which  was  followed  by  a  destructive 
civil  war.  In  this  the  Evangelical  party  fought  on  the  side 
of  the  British,  and  the  Roman  Catholics  against  them.  But, 
thanks  to  the  solid  foundation  laid  by  able  missionaries, 
especially  by  Alexander  Mackay,3  the  mission,  though  re- 
peatedly threatened  with  ruin,  rose  above  all  these  storms 
and  turmoils;  and  after  the  British  occupation  had  brought 
some  quiet  into  the  disturbed  country,  an  astonishing  reaction 
set  in,  which  in  the  first  instance  manifested  itself  in  an  almost 

1  Ashe,  Tico  Kings  of  Uganda,  London,  1889. 

2  Dawson,  Bishop  James  Havnington,  London,  1887. 
8  A.  M.  Mackay,  by  his  Sister,  London,  1890. 


262  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

epidemic  desire  to  read  and  learn,  and  which  became  a  great 
Christian  movement.  By  1895  the  number  of  the  so-called 
"  Eeaders  "  had  risen  to  almost  60,000  ;  the  number  of  church 
attenders  to  26,000.  The  movement  began  in  Mengo,  the 
capital,  but  it  soon  spread  not  only  over  the  provinces  of 
Uganda,  but  even  into  the  neighbouring  lands  of  Budu,  Nkole, 
Busoga,  Bunyoro,  Kavirondo,  Usukama,  and  particularly  Toro, 
and  from  these  to  the  borders  of  the  Congo  State,  into  which 
parts  bands  of  native  evangelists  journeyed,  who  found  willing 
helpers  in  Uganda,  for  the  most  part  among  the  chiefs.  The 
English  missionaries,  who  now  number  45,  including  16  lay- 
men, and  who  are  supported  by  19  lady  missionaries,  have 
their  hands  full,  apart  from  preaching,  with  teaching,  literary 
work,  the  organisation  of  congregations,  the  directing  of  evan- 
gelistic activity,  and  the  training  of  native  helpers,  of  whom 
32  are  ordained  pastors.  Under  Bishop  Tucker,  a  man  of  rare 
activity,  who  entered  into  the  service  in  1890,  the  Uganda 
mission  enjoys  an  admirable  leadership.  While  in  1882  there 
were  only  5,  and  in  1892  scarcely  1000  baptized  evangelical 
Christians  in  Uganda,  their  number  had  increased  at  the  end 
of  1899  to  nearly  25,000,  including  2600  catechumens,  and  in 
1903  to  43,800  baptized  Christians,  with  3300  catechumens 
(13,000  communicants),  and  that  of  the  scholars  to  21,000. 
At  any  rate,  a  wide  door  has  been  opened  to  the  Gospel  on 
the  Victoria  Nyanza,  and  though  the  "  many  adversaries  "  are 
not  wanting  —  the  Eoman  Catholic  counter-mission,  —  and 
though  reverses  will  scarcely  fail  to  be  met  with,  as  is  proved 
by  the  repeated  risings,  first  of  Mwanga,  then  of  the  Soudanese 
mercenaries,  and  again  of  Mwanga,  who  died  a  prisoner  in  the 
Seychelles  in  1903,  a  work  is  nevertheless  in  progress  here  for 
which  God  is  to  be  greatly  praised.  Since  the  overland  route 
to  Uganda  from  Mombasa  has,  by  the  completion  of  the  rail- 
way in  1901,  become  the  only  oue  for  the  English  missionaries, 
the  three  old  stations  on  the  route  through  German  East  Africa 
(Usagara),  of  which  the  best  known  is  Mpwapwa,  seem  to  be 
treated  in  a  somewhat  step-motherly  fashion,  the  more  so  as 
the  result  of  the  mission  here  is  inconsiderable  (360  Christians). 
In  British  East  Africa,  north-east  of  Kilima  Njaro,  on  the 
Biver  Kibwezi,  there  was  established  in  1892,  at  the  instigation, 
and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  at  the  cost  of  the  British  East 
Africa  Company,  the  station  of  New  Lovedale,  which,  on  the 
model  of  the  South  African  Lovedale,  was  to  form  the  centre 
and  point  of  departure  of  a  so-called  Industrial  Mission,  but 
which,  in  consequence  of  an  unsound  basis  and  many  other 
hindrances,  has  not  prospered  rightly.  It  has  now  been  trans- 
ferred to  Kikuyu,  and  taken  over  by  the  Scottish  State  Church. 


AFRICA  263 

— In  the  province  of  Kavirondo,  north  of  Port  Florence,  the 
terminus  of  the  railway,  the  American  Quakers  have  in  1902 
founded  a  similar  Industrial  Mission,  after  it  had  previously, 
in  1898,  set  in  operation  an  Africa  Inland  Mission,  half-way 
between  the  coast  and  the  eastern  shore  of  Victoria  Nyanza, 
consisting  at  present  of  4  stations. 

193.  So  early  as  1862,  through  the  influence  of  Krapf's  book 
(Beisen  in  Ostafrika,  1839-1855),  and  under  his  personal  leader- 
ship, the  United  Methodist  Free  Churches  of  England  began  a 
mission  among  the  Wanika  at  Kibe,  near  to  Eebmann's  station 
of  Eabai,  which  was  intended  to  spread  also  to  the  Galla  people. 
But  continuous  sickness  and  mortality  among  the  missionaries, 
of  whom  only  Wakefield  and  New1  were  permitted  a  lengthened 
period  of  labour,  and  at  a  later  time  a  predatory  invasion  of  the 
Masai,  which  destroyed  Golbanti  station  and  cost  missionary 
Houghton  and  his  wife  their  lives  (1886),  have  greatly  hindered 
the  development  of  this  little  mission.  About  1000  Christians 
have  been  gathered  at  7  stations. 

194.  The  third  factor  in  the  history  of  the  founding  of  the 
East  African  missions  is  the  era  of  colonial  politics,  which 
began  in  the  middle  of  the  Eighties.  The  occupation  of 
territory  by  the  Germans  led  to  the  initiation  of  6  German 
missions.  The  earliest  movement  was  in  Bavaria,  when  a  little 
circle  under  the  influence  of  Krapf's  missionary  ideas  had  been 
for  a  considerable  time  occupied  with  the  plan  of  a  Wakamba 
Mission.  In  the  expectation  that  the  whole  East  African  coast 
up  to  Somali  Land  would  become  German,  a  "  Bavarian  Society 
for  an  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission  in  East  Africa  "  was  con- 
stituted at  the  beginning  of  1886.  In  putting  this  plan  into 
execution  from  the  coast  near  Eabai  as  starting-point,  the 
Society  had  soon  to  experience  an  unpleasant  disappointment, 
since  by  diplomatic  arrangement  its  mission  field  fell  within 
the  British  sphere  of  interest.  A  similar  disappointment  befell 
the  Neukirchen  Mission,  which  in  1887  began  atWitu,  near  to 
the  United  Methodists,  a  mission  which  is  now  extended  over 
2  principal  districts, — Lamu  in  Witu  and  Ngao  on  the  Tana 
Eiver, — but  has  achieved  only  some  slight  initial  results.  The 
Wakamba  Mission,  which  works  in  a  very  hard  soil  and  has 
passed  through  great  affliction,  but  which  now  numbers  100 
Christians  at  5  stations,  passed  over  in  1893  to  the  Leipsic 
Society,  which  in  the  same  year  began  a  new  work  among  the 
Jagga  on  Kilima  Njaro,  from  which  the  C.  M.  S.  had  had  to 
retire.     Here  it  has  6  stations ;  the  erection  of  the  station  on 

1  New,  Life,  Wanderings,  and  Labour  in  Eastern  Africa,  London,  1874. 
E.  S.  Wakefield,  Thomas  Wakefield,  Missionary  and  Geographical  Pioneer  in 
East  Equatorial  Africa,  2nd  ed.,  London,  1904. 


264  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Mount  Meru,  which  was  put  off  owing  to  the  murder  of  two 
of  the  Society's  missionaries,  was  effected  in  1902.  Including 
catechumens,  about  250  Christians  have  been  gathered  here, 
with  1700  scholars. 

195.  In  the  province  of  Usambara,  south-east  from  Kilima 
Njaro,  and  not  far  from  the  British  boundaries,  besides  the 
Universities  Mission  at  Magila,  the  German  African  Missionary 
Society  (Berlin  III.)  has  its  northern  mission  field,  which,  in- 
clusive of  Tanga  on  the  coast,  comprises  5  flourishing  stations 
of  which  Hohenfriedberg  (Mlalo)  has  made  most  progress. 
Farther  south,  in  the  province  of  Usaramo,  in  the  hinterland  of 
Dar-es- Salaam,  there  are  3  more  stations,  including  this  coast 
town  itself,  which  is  important  as  the  seat  of  the  German 
Government;  of  these,  however,  only  Kisserawe  has  up  till 
now  developed  some  degree  of  success ;  this  district  has  now 
been  taken  over  by  the  Berlin  (I.)  Society.  The  work  among 
the  Suaheli  on  the  coast  continues  to  be  rather  unfruitful. 
The  hospital  originally  founded  in  Zanzibar  and  then  removed 
to  Dar-es-Salaam,  which  has  occasioned  so  many  disagree- 
ments and  rendered  to  the  mission  itself  services  so  slight,  has, 
in  consequence  of  the  erection  of  a  Government  hospital,  been 
given  up.  The  German  East  Africa  M.  S.,  which  at  present 
supports  20  missionaries  (all  University  men),  also  undertook 
the  spiritual  care  of  the  Germans  in  Dar-es-Salaam;  now, 
however,  a  special  German  colonial  pastor  has  been  appointed 
there.  At  Kisserawe  station  a  home  was  provided  for  liberated 
slaves,  but  since  the  Evangelical  Africa  Union  took  over  the 
care  of  these,  having  founded  a  refuge  for  them,  combined  with 
a  sanatorium,  in  Lutindi  in  Usambara,  the  Missionary  Society 
has  been  relieved  of  this  work  for  the  future.  There  are  500 
baptized  and  650  scholars. 

196.  In  Konde  Land,  at  the  north  end  of  Lake  Nyasa,  in  the 
south-western  corner  of  German  East  Africa,  the  Berlin  (I.) 
Missionary  Society  and  the  Moravians — the  former  in  the  east, 
the  latter  in  the  west — took  up  in  1891  an  entirely  new  mission 
field ;  and  here,  too,  first-fruits  have  already  been  gathered  in 
(700  baptized).  The  Berlin  missionaries  occupy  14  stations 
(including  those  among  the  Wahehe),  the  Moravians  6,  and 
both  are  thinking  of  extension.  With  courageous  faith  the 
Moravians,  at  the  request  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  have  even  taken 
over  in  addition  their  solitary  Urambo  station  in  the  German 
Unyamewesi  territory,  and  have  already  planted  three  other 
stations  in  the  same  territory,  so  that  little  by  little  a  con- 
nection may  be  established  with  their  Nyasa  mission. 

197.  The  London  Missionary  Society,  which  with  pride 
counts  Livingstone  among  its  missionaries,  could  not  think  to 


AFRICA  265 

lag  behind,  when  the  death  of  the  noble  African  explorer  fired 
his  Scottish  countrymen  to  great  missionary  undertakings  in 
the  region  of  Lake  Nyasa,  which  he  had  discovered.  It  chose 
as  its  field  the  country  around  Tanganyika,  the  middle  lake 
of  the  three  in  inland  Africa,  which  was  the  scene  of  important 
events  in  the  life  of  Livingstone.  The  point  of  departure  of 
their  Central  African  Mission  was  to  be  Ujiji,  notorious  for 
its  slave  markets,  and  memorable  as  the  meeting-place  of 
Livingstone  and  Stanley.  But  the  whole  undertaking,  which 
has  cost  so  much  money  and  so  many  lives,  including  that  of 
Mullens,  the  secretary  of  the  Society,  has  taken  a  course  yield- 
ing little  satisfaction,  not  merely  through  the  difficulty  of 
communication  and  the  hostility  of  the  Arab  slave-traders,  but 
also  from  the  want  of  a  firm  and  clear-sighted  administration 
and  of  suitable  missionaries.  The  frequent  change  of  stations, 
for  which,  perhaps,  the  two  steamers  which  were  at  great  cost 
taken  to  the  lake  are  partly  accountable,  and  still  more  the 
constant  change  in  the  mission  staff,  have  hindered  a  success- 
ful development.  Since  the  intermediate  station  of  Urambo, 
which  was  founded  so  early  as  1879,  passed  over  to  the 
Moravians,  the  L.  M.  S.  maintains  now  only  4  stations  on  the 
southern  shore  of  Tanganyika,  and  even  at  these  the  work  is 
frequently  interrupted  and  the  results  are  meagre  (70  com- 
municants). It  is  reported,  however,  that  quite  recently 
several  thousand  hearers  of  the  word  have  been  gathered. 

198.  More  systematic  and  successful,  however,  are  the  two 
Scottish  missions  of  the  Established  and  the  Free  Church, 
which  entered  on  work  in  the  Nyasa  region  as  a  memorial 
of  Livingstone.  In  the  Shire  Highlands,  at  the  south  of  the 
lake,  and  still  within  the  British  Protectorate,  though  close  to 
the  Portuguese  boundaries,  we  first  come  on  the  field  of  labour 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  which  has  its  centre  for  the  work 
of  Christianisation  and  civilisation  at  Blantyre,  the  important 
station  named  after  Livingstone's  birthplace.  After  success- 
fully overcoming  a  grave  crisis,  brought  on  by  the  exercise  of 
magisterial  jurisdiction  on  the  part  of  the  first  lay  missionaries, 
this  station,  with  its  offshoots,  has  on  the  whole  developed  so 
satisfactorily  that  it  has  become,  both  for  Christianity  and  for 
civilisation,  "  a  city  set  on  a  hill,"  although  the  procedure  has 
not  been  always  pedagogically  sound  in  the  introduction  of 
European  callings  and  occupations  into  the  social  economy  of  the 
mission.  The  numerical  success  of  the  mission  approximates 
1000  baptized  and  700  catechumens;  the  school  operations 
associated  with  the  industrial  work  are  extensive,  embracing 
over  3000  scholars. 

In   1892   a   fantastic   Australian   Baptist,  Joseph  Booth, 


266  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

founded  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Blantyre,  with  the  aid  of 
Scottish  capitalists,  a  so-called  Zambesi  Industrial  Mission, 
which  was  to  be  entirely  self-supporting,  and  thereafter,  when 
the  Home  Committee  severed  connection  with  him  on  account 
of  his  reckless  behaviour  towards  the  Scottish  missionaries,  a 
Nyasa  Industrial  Mission.  The  adventurous  founder  sub- 
sequently disappeared,  and  sought  to  play  a  leading  part  in  the 
Ethiopian  movement;  but  both  the  associations  founded  by 
him  continue,  and  there  has  even  been  added  to  them  in  1896 
a  Baptist  Industrial  Mission,  although  the  schemes  of  self- 
support  have  never  yet  been  realised.  All  three  carry  on 
mission  work  only  amongst  the  labourers  in  their  extensive 
plantations,  and  chiefly  by  schools  which  are  in  the  hands  of 
lay  missionaries.  Together  they  appear  to  have  about  5000 
scholars  and  600  communicants. 

199.  Much  more  important  and  successful  is  the  Living- 
stonia  Mission  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church,  begun  in  1874,  and 
since  that  time  admirably  led  by  Dr.  Laws,  which  extends  along 
the  whole  western  shore  of  Lake  Nyasa,  and  has  recently  made 
a  magnificent  advance.  Its  centre  at  first  was  Livingstonia,  at 
the  south  end  of  the  lake ;  then  it  was  transferred  to  Bandawe, 
which  is  situated  about  the  middle  of  the  western  shore,  and 
more  recently  to  the  north,  where  a  new  Livingstonia  has  been 
founded  on  the  Kondowe  plateau  in  North  Ngoniland.  The 
southern  district,  South  Ngoniland,  which  is  partly  occupied 
by  the  Cape  Dutch  Eeformed  Church  in  co-operation  with  the 
Scottish,  almost  touches  the  Blantyre  Mission ;  while  the 
northern  district  embraces  the  Tanganyika  plateau  within 
British  territory  as  far  as  the  commercial  station,  Fife,  of  the 
Lakes  Company.  This  mission  systematically  combines  the 
work  of  civilisation  with  that  of  evangelisation,  and  gives 
quite  peculiar  attention  to  its  schools.  The  207  schools  are 
attended  by  more  than  16,000  pupils,  and  exert  a  far-reaching 
influence  for  Christianity  and  civilisation.  The  Livingstonia 
Institution,  opened  in  1895  on  the  high-lying  Kondowe 
plateau,  westward  of  Florence  Bay,  is  arranged  on  the  plan  of 
Lovedale,  and  rejoices  in  a  large  attendance  (1550  pupils):  it 
is  a  pity  that  the  concluding  theological  instruction  is  given  in 
the  English  language.  The  Scottish  missionaries  are  very 
cautious  in  administering  baptism,  and  so  the  number  of  those 
baptized  and  of  candidates  for  baptism,  which  is  now  increas- 
ing rapidly,  amounted  in  1898  to  only  2000,  and  in  1902  to 
about  4500  (2200  communicants),  while  3000  to  7000  would 
be  present  at  religious  gatherings.  The  Christians,  moreover, 
are  animated  by  great  zeal  in  bearing  witness  for  the  faith, 
and,  along  with  numerous  native  catechists  and  teachers,  serve 


AFRICA  267 

the  mission  as  voluntary  evangelists.  On  account  of  the  great 
stress  which  this  mission  lays  on  the  independent  co-operation 
of  the  natives,  it  contents  itself  with  8  ordained  and  13  lay 
missionaries,  a  European  staff  which  is  scarcely  proportionate 
to  the  size  and  importance  of  the  field,  where  9  different 
languages  and  dialects  are  spoken,  of  which  7  have  already 
been  raised  to  be  literary  languages.  Already  the  whole  of 
the  New  Testament  and  part  of  the  Old  have  been  translated 
into  the  Nyanja  language.  The  influence  which  this  mission 
has  exercised  on  behalf  of  civilisation  is  great.  Acknowledg- 
ment must  also  be  made  of  the  aid  rendered  to  the  mission  by 
the  Scottish  African  Lakes  Company,  which  is  conducted  in  a 
Christian  spirit ;  it  has  erected  a  chain  of  factories  from  the 
estuary  of  the  Zambesi  to  the  Tanganyika  plateau.  The 
British  Protectorate,  prepared  for  by  missions  and  commerce, 
has  almost  entirely  made  an  end  of  the  slave-trade,  which  used 
to  flourish  especially  in  the  countries  about  Lake  Nyasa,  and 
in  general  by  its  sound  administration  has  made  a  hopeful  be- 
ginning with  the  pacification  and  elevation  of  these  countries.1 
The  congregations  in  the  south  connected  with  the  Cape 
Church  number  about  1000  Christians  and  7500  scholars  at 
6  stations. — Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the  Nyasa 
province  of  the  Universities  Mission,  now  under  its  own 
bishop  (about  3000  Christians),  which  has  its  centre  in  the 
island  Likoma.  From  the  eastern  side  this  mission  has  now 
established  itself  also  at  the  south  end  of  the  lake. — The  total 
number  of  evangelical  native  Christians  in  East  Africa  in  1903 
amomited  to  65,000. 

199a.  In  Portuguese  East  Africa,  Catholic  missions  are  in  possession  of  an 
old  mission  field  which  had  been  as  early  as  1612  part  of  the  Portuguese 
Archbishopric  of  Goa  in  India,  and  was  known  as  the  Prelature  nullius 
dioeceseos  of  Mosambique.  If  Baumgarten's  statistics  are  correct  when 
he  says  there  are  only  5000  Catholics  in  all  this  great  district,  we  have 
here  another  proof  of  how  sorely  the  Catholic  Church  has  neglected  her 
old  mission  fields.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  Jesuit  mission  began  only 
in  1890 :  "  The  Mission  to  the  Lower  Portuguese  Zambesi,"  and  which 
reports  4000  Catholic  converts,  also  stands  under  the  Archbishopric  of  Goa. 

German  East  Africa  is  to-day  fairly  powerfully  manned  by  Catholic 
missionaries.  In  Zanzibar  and  on  the  neighbouring  coast  there  was,  at 
any  rate  as  early  as  1860,  a  mission  carried  on  by  French  Fathers  of  the 
Congregation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  model  station  of  which,  Bagamoyo, 
was  far  famed.  This  mission  was  considerably  extended  after  Germany 
came  into  possession  of  the  country,  and  that  specially  through  the  German 
branches  of  the  said  congregation,  the  White  Fathers  of  Algiers  and  the 
Benedictines.     To-day  German  East  Africa  is  divided  into  5  districts  : — 

1  Report  of  Commissioner  Johnston  of  the  first  three  years'  administration  of 
the  Eastern  Portion  of  British  Central  Africa,  dated  March  31,  1894.  Jack, 
Daybreak  in  Livingstonia,  Edinburgh,  1900. 


268  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

1.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  North  Zanzibar.  It  numbers  17  stations 
(Zanzibar),  including  3  Trappist  settlements  in  Usambara  and  5  in  British 
territory.  The  total  number  of  Catholic  converts  is  10,000.  2.  The 
Apostolic  Prefecture  of  South  Zanzibar,  with  11  stations  (Dar-es-Salam) 
and  2700  Catholics.  3.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Tanganyika,  with 
9  stations  (Karema)  and  about  4000  Catholics.  4.  The  Apostolic 
Vicariate  of  Unyamyembe,  with  7  stations  (Ushirombo)  and  about  2300 
Catholics.  5.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Southern  Nyanza,  with  11 
stations  (Bukumbi)  and  about  2400  Catholics.  The  staff  of  workers  is 
very  large  :  altogether  110  fathers,  70  brothers,  and  100  sisters. 

Yet  more  extensive  is  the  recently  founded  Catholic  mission  in  British 
East  Africa  (Uganda),  which  pressed  in  after  the  evangelical  mission  to  this 
country  was  founded  in  1879.  It  lies  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  White 
Fathers  of  Algiers,  and  forms  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Northern 
Nyanza,  with  about  200  fathers  and  brothers  and  135  sisters,  85  stations 
(Rubaga),  and  84,000  baptized  Catholics.1 

According  to  Missiones  Catholics,  there  were  39,500  baptized  converts 
in  1900  ;  in  three  years  there  has  therefore  been  steaming  ahead,  probably 
for  the  same  reason  as  is  given  for  similarly  surprising  statistics  from 
New  Pomerania  by  the  bishop  of  that  district  ■  "  It  must  be  considered  a 
gain  when  the  natives  are  even  hidden  in  the  safe  fold  of  the  true  Church 
and  withdrawn  from  the  influence  of  error  ! " 

The  statistics  for  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Nyasa  (on  the  West  Coast ; 
chief  station  Kaiambo)  are  included  in  those  for  Northern  Nyanza. 

There  are  therefore  some  115,000  baptized  Catholic  converts  through- 
out East  Africa. 


Section  5.  North  Afkica 

200.  The  immense  region  of  North  Africa,  which  extends 
from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  southern  limits  of  the  Soudan, 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Indian  Ocean  and  the  Eed  Sea, 
embracing  almost  the  half  of  the  Dark  Continent,  and  which, 
with  the  exception  of  the  negro  tribes  in  the  west,  south,  and 
south-east,  is  inhabited  by  a  Hamitic  population,  has  been 
touched  by  evangelical  missions  in  part  very  slightly  and  in 
part  not  at  all.  The  reason  for  this  lies  not  only  in  the 
climatic  conditions  and  the  difficulty  of  communication,  but 
far  more  in  the  inaccessibility  of  the  inhabitants.  For  the 
first  time  we  here  come  on  a  compact  domain  of  Islam,  which, 
by  means  of  a  propaganda,  direct  and  indirect,  beyond  our 
control  and  carried  forward  with  more  or  less  fanaticism 
and   violence,  is   proselytising   more  and   more   towards   the 

1  Missiones  Catholicce,  1004,  p.  164,  records  the  following  figures  in  respect 
of  the  missions  of  the  White  Fathers  throughout  North  and  Equatorial  Africa : 
in  1898,  43,219  baptized  converts  ;  in  1900,  59,404  ;  in  1902,  82,073  ;  in  1903, 
98,271.  In  the  same  years,  127,096  ;  151,210  ;  161,302  ;  and  196,561  oatcchu- 
mens.  AVhen,  however,  one  recalls  the  fact  that  the  Congregation  of  the  White 
Fathers  was  only  founded  in  1868,  and  only  entered  upon  its  work  in  Central 
Africa  towards  the  close  of  the  Seventies,  these  appear  extravagant  figures,  only 
to  be  explained  by  their  having  been  treated  according  to  the  recipe  of  the 
Bishop  of  New  Pomerania. 


AFRICA  269 

west,  south,  and  east,  with  results  which,  in  the  judgment 
of  all  experts,  are  injurious  to  Africa.  Like  solitary  islands 
in  the  midst  of  this  Mohammedan  ocean,  there  stand  Abyssinia 
and  the  Coptic  population  of  Egypt,  with,  it  is  true,  a  very 
much  deformed  Christianity,  and  the  Eoman  missionary 
churches  of  Algiers  and  Tunis. 

If  at  present  we  leave  out  of  account  the  attempts  at 
evangelisation  among  the  old  African  Christian  churches, 
to  look  at  them  later  in  connection  with  those  among  the 
remnants  of  the  Asiatic  churches,  the  other  evangelical  mis- 
sionary undertakings  in  North  Africa  are  confined  to  the 
countries  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  and  the  Eed  Sea. 
Plans  have  repeatedly  been  laid  for  pressing  into  the  Soudan 
from  the  west  and  south-west,  but  until  now  the  endeavours 
in  this  direction  have  all  come  to  grief.  After  the  British 
victory  over  the  Mahdi  at  Omdurman  in  1898,  the  C.  M.  S. 
repeatedly  attempted  to  obtain  a  footing  in  this  central  part  of 
the  Egyptian  Soudan,  but  has  only  now,  as  it  seems,  overcome 
the  opposition  of  the  Government,  which  has  been  labouring 
with  great  energy  for  the  economic  improvement  of  the  land. 
The  German  Soudan-Pioneer-Mission  has  not  got  beyond  the 
stage  of  a  design;  and  whether  the  United  Soudan-Pioneer- 
Mission,  founded  in  England  in  1904,  which  seeks  to  penetrate 
the  Soudan  from  Northern  Nigeria,  will  accomplish  a  stable 
work,  is  open  to  considerable  doubt. 

201.  In  1866  the  Swedish  Fatherland  Institute  began  a 
mission  from  Massowah  on  the  Red  Sea,  partly  in  Cunama 
Land  on  its  north-west  borders,  partly  in  the  province  of 
Hamasen  in  the  north-east  of  Abyssinia,  and  an  attempt  was 
also  made  to  press  forward  from  Khartum  to  the  Galla  tribe, 
in  each  case  at  the  cost  of  great  sacrifice  and  without  success. 
The  dangerous  climate,  the  hostility  of  the  priests,  and  the 
savage  character  of  the  natives,  necessitated  withdrawal. 
Abyssinia  continued  to  be  as  much  closed  to  the  missionaries 
as  the  way  to  the  Gallas.  They  had  therefore  to  withdraw 
to  the  colony  of  Erythrea,  which  is  at  present  Italian,  and  in 
it  they  maintain  two  stations — Moncullo,  near  Massowah,  and 
Geleb,  which  have  small  congregations  and  a  mission  school. 
They  were  able  to  resume  the  work  in  Hamasen,  and  there  at 
3  stations  they  have  380  church  members.  A  new  forward 
movement  towards  the  Gallas  is  also  in  progress.  A  trans- 
lation of  the  New  Testament  into  their  language  has  already 
been  completed,  and  is  at  present  being  printed. 

202.  In  the  countries  along  the  north  coast  of  Africa  the 
interdenominational  North  Africa  Mission,  which  developed 
out  of  a  mission  to  the  Kabyles,  promoted  especially  by  Grattan 


270  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Guinness,  has,  since  the  beginning  of  the  Eighties,  been  de- 
veloping an  extensive  activity  among  the  Mohammedans  from 
Egypt  as  far  as  Morocco.1  Its  work  centres  around  15  stations, 
but  only  within  the  last  few  years  has  it  had  some  small  success. 
The  staff  is  certainly  a  large  one,  but  of  more  than  83  workers 
(it  is  uncertain,  however,  whether  all  are  in  the  service),  61  are 
ladies,  who  not  merely  make  house-to-house  visits,  care  for  the 
sick,  impart  instruction  and  distribute  Bibles,  but  also  preach 
in  public — a  special  offence  in  the  Mohammedan  world — and 
occupy  some  stations  quite  alone.  It  is  also  very  doubtful  if 
the  men  missionaries,  of  whom  not  one  is  ordained,  are  equal 
to  their  difficult  task.  In  the  mission  staff,  too,  constant 
changes  are  taking  place.  There  are,  besides,  four  or  five  little 
interdenominational  missions  in  Morocco,  in  Algiers,  and  among 
the  Berbers,  also  some  independent  missionaries,  all  of  whom, 
however,  are  at  present  only  sowing  in  hope. — In  Egypt,  at 
Cairo,  Miss  Whately  in  1861  began  school  work,  combined  with 
a  medical  mission,  and  this  work  was  carried  on  for  a  time 
after  her  death  in  1889,  but  has  now  been  taken  over  by  the 
North  American  Presbyterians.  Of  almost  700  scholars  (boys 
and  girls)  who  attend  the  school,  more  than  half  are  children 
of  Mohammedan  parents,  but  conversions  to  Christianity  seem 
to  be  of  seldom  occurrence.  At  the  request  of  Miss  Whately, 
the  C.  M.  S.,  having  given  up  its  earlier  work  among  the 
Copts,  began  a  limited  Mohammedan  mission  in  Cairo,  and  has 
gathered  a  small  congregation,  with  about  100  baptized  and 
300  scholars.     The  Dutch  mission  in  Kaliub  is  unimportant. 

203.  The  statistical  results  of  evangelical  missions  to  the 
heathen  in  Africa  are  as  follows : — 

West  Africa       ....  178,000  Evang.  Christians. 

South  Africa      ....  590,000       „  „ 

African  Islands  .         .         .  290,000       „  „ 

East  and  Central  Africa    .        .  65,000      „  „ 


Total       .      1,123,000  Evang.  Christians. 

203«.  The  countries  along  the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  some  of  them 
with  a  long  missionary  history,  have  a  numerous  Catholic  population  ;  it 
is,  however,  not  the  outcome  of  missionary  work  among  non-Christians, 
i.e.  among  Moslems  ;  it  consists  partly  of  immigrant  Catholics,  and  partly 
Romanised  schismatics.  This  is  the  case  in  the  Apostolic  Prefecture  of 
Morocco,  the  Archbishoprics  of  Algiers  and  Tunis  or  Carthago,  the  Pre- 
fecture of  Tripolis,  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  Egypt,  the  Prefecture  of 
the  Nile  Delta,  and  also  the  Vicariate  of  Abyssinia.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  the  completely  Catholicised  islands  on  the  North-west  Coast.  All 
these,  then,  with  their  some  800,000  to  900,000  Catholics,  are  entirely  to 
be  excluded  from  missionary  statistics. 

1  Haig,  Daybreak  in  North  Africa :  an  Account  of  Work  for  Christ  begun  in 
Morocco,  Algeria,  Tunis,  and  Tripoli,  London.  Organ  :  North  Africa.  Tht 
Gospel  in  North  Africa,  by  Rutherford  and  Glenny,  London,  1901. 


AFRICA 


271 


Besides  these,  however,  there  are  5  mission  fields  proper  in  North 
Africa,  in  which  work  is  at  any  rate  for  the  most  part  carried  on  among 
non-Christians.  1.  The  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Upper  Nile,  right 
down  to  the  northern  frontier  of  British  East  Africa,  with  5600  Catholics 
in  connection  with  4  chief  stations,  and  22  priests  (M.H.) ;  2.  The 
Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Galla  Region,  with  6  chief  stations  (Harrar), 
7000  Catholics,  and  20  priests  (Kp.)  ;  3.  The  Apostolic  Prefecture  of 
Erythrea,  with  24  stations  (Keren),  8000  Catholics,  and  53  priests,  together 
with  23  sisters  (Kp.) ;  4.  The  gigantic  Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Sudan 
or  Central  Africa,  in  which  the  rising  of  the  Mahdi  was  the  destruction 
of  the  patient  and  faithful  work  of  nearly  25  years,  and  work  which 
must  now  be  begun  all  over  again  from  Assouan  and  Omdurman — 14 
priests  and  13  sisters  (VS.) ;  5.  To  the  west  of  the  last  mentioned  the 
Apostolic  Vicariate  of  the  Sahara,  founded  by  Lavigerie,  with  12  stations 
(Segu),  30  priests  and  as  many  sisters  (W.V.)  "  Individual  conversions 
are  as  good  as  excluded.  On  the  whole,  baptism  is  administered  in  the 
hour  of  death.  In  1900  there  were  26  adult  conversions  and  36  among 
children,  and  262  dying  persons  were  baptized.  The  continual  endeavour 
is  to  baptize  entire  neighbourhoods,  if  indeed  anything  at  all  is  to  be 
effected  "  (Baumgarten,  p.  297). 

The  total  number  of  Catholic  converts  in  Africa  is  as  follows  : — 


In  West  Africa 

In  South  Africa 

On  the  East  African  Islands 

In  East  Africa 

In  North  Africa 


Total 


100,000 

16,000 
280,000 
115,000 

20,000  (?) 

531,000 


The  Catholic  Church  carries  on  a  very  extensive  and  also  successful 
Romanising  movement  among  Oriental  schismatics.  Since,  however, 
this  is  neither  mission  work  among  Moslems  nor  among  the  heathen,  I 
omit  any  survey  of  it  here. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  OLD  OKIENTAL  CHUKCHES 

204.  The  Mohammedan  world,  which  extends  over  the 
whole  of  North  Africa,  part  of  south-east  Europe,  and  from 
Arabia  and  Asia  Minor  through  Persia  as  far  as  China  and  the 
Dutch  East  Indies,  and  which  numbers  197  millions  of  ad- 
herents, is  still  almost  entirely  closed  against  the  Gospel. 
This  is  true  not  only  where  there  is  Mohammedan  rule,  and 
where  conversion  to  Christianity  is  by  the  direction  of  the 
Koran  punished  with  death,  but  also  in  the  Christian  colonial 
dominions  of  British  and  Dutch  India.  Missions  to  Moham- 
medans, it  is  true,  have  been,  and  are  still,  carried  on  by 
various  evangelical  societies  and  by  the  agency  of  specially 
able  missionaries  {e.g.  Pfander,  Kolle,  French1);  and  a  small 
number  of  converted  Moslems,  including  some  outstanding 
men  like  Dr.  Imaduddin  in  North  India,  are  the  fruit  of  this 
work.  But  considerable  congregations  have  nowhere  yet  been 
formed  from  the  confessors  of  Islam,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  those  in  Java  and  Sumatra.  The  time  of  the  mis- 
sion to  the  Mohammedan  world  seems  to  be  not  yet  fully 
come,  and  the  hope  which  rested  on  the  fall  of  the  Turkish 
power  has  been  again  removed  into  the  far  distance  by  the 
victories  of  the  Turks  over  the  Greeks.  In  these  circum- 
stances, to  think  at  present  of  beginning  a  direct  Moham- 
medan mission  would  be  a  venture  opposed  to  Christian 
prudence,  in  view  of  past  failures  and  unavailing  sacrifices, — 
e.g.  in  the  Scottish  Free  Church  mission  in  South  Arabia  and 
the  utterly  futile  attempt  of  Pastor  Faber  in  Persia.  Even 
the  most  wonderful  self-sacrifice,  like  that  of  the  noble  Scottish 
professor,  Keith  Falconer,  and  the  excellent  Bishop  French, 
who  both  found  lonely  graves  in  Arabia,  was  not  sufficient  to 
open  the  doors  which  God's  key  had  not  yet  unlocked.  Be- 
sides Mohammedan  fanaticism,  a  special  hindrance  which  has 
to  be  reckoned  with  is  the  unfortunate  implication  of  religion 
with  politics.     Not  only  are  the  Mohammedan  governments 

1  Birks,  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Th.  V.  French,  London,  1895. 

273 


THE  OLD  ORIENTAL  CHURCHES  273 

inspired  with  the  greatest  distrust  towards  evangelical  mis- 
sionaries, as  if  they  were  the  instigators  of  sedition,  but  mis- 
sions are  also  impeded  by  the  political  jealousy  of  the  Christian 
powers.  The  antagonism  of  Kussia  to  Britain,  which  sees  in 
all  that  is  called  evangelical  a  danger  for  its  plans  of  conquest, 
extends  even  to  the  protection  of  Mohammedanism,  so  that  it 
forbids  even  the  Orthodox  Church  to  conduct  a  mission  among 
its  own  Mohammedan  subjects.  Britain's  ambiguous  Eastern 
policy,  too,  is  calculated  to  give  ever  fresh  fuel  for  the  distrust 
of  both  Kussia  and  Turkey.  European  politics  altogether,  the 
German  included,  treat  the  Turkish  dominion  as  a  Noli  me 
tangere,  and  this  protection  is  unfavourable  to  all  missionary 
effort.  Under  these  circumstances  our  task  must  meantime 
be  limited  to  the  prosecution  of  a  direct  Mohammedan  mission 
mainly  in  the  Christian  colonial  dominions,  to  the  counter- 
acting of  the  Mohammedan  propaganda  in  heathen  countries 
by  means  of  Christian  missions,  and  to  the  spiritual  revival 
of  the  old  degenerate  Christian  churches  within  the  Moham- 
medan world. 

205.  This  last  work  has  been  carried  on  by  evangelical 
missions  somewhat  extensively  since  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  not  without  success.  It  is,  strictly 
speaking,  not  mission  work  but  evangelisation  work,  but  since 
it  has  an  important  missionary  significance,  we  are  justified  in 
considering  it  in  this  place.  At  the  beginning  the  principle 
guiding  this  work  was  a  very  ideal  one.  Both  Germans  and 
Englishmen  and  Americans,  who  took  part  in  the  enterprise, 
repudiated  the  thought  of  making  proselytes  and  forming  Pro- 
testant congregations  within  the  Oriental  churches.  So  far 
from  cherishing  this  purpose,  they  desired  nothing  more  than 
by  word  and  writing,  especially  by  the  evangelical  education  of 
pastors  and  teachers,  to  help  on  a  reformation  within  these 
churches.  But  as  life  came  into  the  dead  bones,  the  official 
church  functionaries  everywhere  manifested  opposition,  ex- 
tending even  to  persecution  and  excommunication;  and  this 
compelled  the  founding  of  independent  Protestant  congrega- 
tions, if  work  which  had  been  blessed  was  not  to  be  given 
up.  This  expedient  was  the  more  recommended,  since  the 
Turkish  Government  allowed  to  organised  Protestant  congre- 
gations a  certain  measure  of  religious  liberty,  provided  they 
were  recruited  only  from  the  old  Christian  churches.  Almost 
everywhere  the  emissaries  of  Eome  took  part  with  zealous 
intrigue  in  the  hostile  movement  against  the  evangelical  efforts 
towards  reformation.  Their  aim  was  the  mere  outward  sub- 
jection of  the  Oriental  churches  to  the  Pope,  without  any 
regard  to  their  religious  and  moral  renewal. 


274  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

206.  On  African  soil  there  are  still  left  two  branches  of 
the  old  Monophysites,  the  Abyssinian  or  Ethiopian  Church  and 
the  Coptic.  Both  have  been  made  the  object  of  evangelical 
attempts  at  reformation.  The  work  in  Abyssinia  was  first 
taken  in  hand  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  had  so  far  back  as  1815 
erected  a  central  school  in  Malta  with  a  view  to  the  revival  of 
the  Oriental  churches.  It  sent  out  (1830)  notable  men,  like 
Gobat,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  Krapf  and  Isenberg ; 
but  after  little  more  than  ten  years'  labour  they  were  driven 
out  of  the  country,  leaving  behind  as  the  fruit  of  their  labour 
only  the  translation  of  the  Bible  and  some  awakened  Abys- 
sinians.  Nothing  more  enduring  was  accomplished  by  the 
Chrischona  Brethren  sent  out  in  1856  by  Spittler  at  the  in- 
stance of  Gobat.  Only  Flad  had  some  success  among  the 
Jewish  Felasha.  In  1885  all  the  missionaries  had  to  leave  the 
country.  Spittler,  a  man  fertile  in  resources,  formed  a  far- 
reaching  plan  for  an  apostolic  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Kondar, 
but  little  of  it  has  been  put  into  execution.  And  in  the 
present  political  conditions  every  attempt  to  penetrate  dis- 
trustful Abyssinia  is  hopeless. 

Among  the  Christian  Copts  of  Egypt,  who  number  about 
200,000,  work  of  a  temporary  kind  was  clone  in  the  18th  century 
by  the  Moravians,  and  in  the  19th  century  by  the  C.  M,  S.  and 
the  Chrischona  Brethren,  but  without  any  noteworthy  success. 
The  American  United  Presbyterians,  however,  who  began  their 
work  in  1861,  have  succeeded  in  forming  53  organised  con- 
gregations, ministered  to  mostly  by  native  pastors,  which  have 
altogether  7300  communicants  and  25,000  adherents.  The 
official  Coptic  Church,  it  is  true,  has  rejected  the  Gospel,  but 
an  influence  for  good  has  gone  forth  to  the  church  as  a  whole 
from  the  mission  stations,  in  number  more  than  200,  which 
extend  from  Alexandria  and  Cairo  to  Assouan ;  from  the 
schools,  170  in  number,  with  14,000  (2000  Mohammedan) 
scholars ;  and  from  the  active  literary  and  colportage  work  in 
which  the  Presbyterians  are  engaged  :  this  influence  manifests 
itself  in  all  sorts  of  movements  towards  reformation. 

207.  In  Asia  the  first  object  of  the  work  of  Protestant 
evangelisation  that  we  meet  with  is  the  population  of  Palestine, 
in  religion  very  mixed,  and  morally  and  economically  very 
degraded.  This  work  first  assumed  a  regular  form  in  connec- 
tion with  the  English-Prussian  (now  exclusively  English) 
Bishopric  of  Jerusalem  erected  in  1811,  particularly  under 
Gobat,  the  second  bishop,  whose  labours,  especially  in  the 
founding  of  schools,  were  greatly  blessed,  and  at  whose  impulse 
the  Chrischona  Brethren  and  the  C.  M.  S.  entered  on  the  work. 
The  C.  M.  S.  has  more  than  2100  members  at  19  stations,  and 


THE  OLD  ORIENTAL  CHURCHES  275 

by  means  of  its  schools,  which  are  attended  by  about  3500 
pupils,  its  press,  and  its  medical  mission,  it  exerts  on  Greek 
Christians  and  Mohammedans  an  influence  in  favour  of  the 
Gospel.  By  its  side — without  having  regard  to  other  little 
missions — the  German  Jerusalem  Union  (Verein)  has  been  at 
work  since  1852;  this  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  Jerusalem  Institution  (Stiftung)  for  the  German  evan- 
gelical congregation  in  Jerusalem,  which  was  set  up  in  1889, 
and  which  stands  under  the  official  authority  of  the  Govern- 
ment. The  Jerusalem  Union,  in  addition  to  its  work  for 
German  congregations,  conducts  mission  work  mainly  among 
the  old  Christian  Arab  population  at  5  stations  in  the  Holy 
Land,  with  indeed  but  moderate  direct  success  (400  church 
members).  The  Schneller  Syrian  Orphanage  for  boys,  and  the 
Kaiserswert  Deaconesses'  Talitha  Cumi  Orphanage  for  girls, 
as  well  as  their  hospital,  exert  a  beneficial  though  but  limited 
influence.  The  journey  of  the  German  Emperor  and  Empress 
to  the  dedication  of  the  Church  of  the  Eedeemer  in  Jerusalem 
has  given  a  new  and  powerful  impulse  to  all  these  branches 
of  work.  Of  course,  in  the  old  land  of  the  Jews,  Jewish 
missions  are  also  carried  on. 

208.  Of  much  greater  influence  is  the  work  begun  by  the 
Americans  shortly  after  1820,  carried  on  first  by  the  American 
Board  and  then  by  the  Presbyterian  Church,  to  which  latter 
Syria,  with  Bey  rout  as  centre,  was  in  1878  given  over,  and 
whose  mission  work  there  is  chiefly  among  the  Arabic-speaking 
Greeks.  Both  of  the  American  missions,  whose  field  of  opera- 
tions extends  from  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  are 
engaged  not  only  in  evangelisation,  but  also  in  a  grand  educa- 
tive and  literary  work,  by  means  of  which  they  have  gained 
a  deep  influence  for  the  intellectual  and  social  elevation  of  the 
whole  population,  women  as  well  as  men.1  In  Syria  the 
Presbyterians  have  organised  Protestant  congregations  at  5 
chief  stations  and  numerous  out  -  stations,  with  altogether 
2500  communicants,  who  are  as  salt  to  the  society  in  which 
they  live.  The  efficacy  of  the  mission,  however,  through  school 
and  press,  extends  far  beyond  this  organisation  of  congrega- 
tions. Besides  a  university  in  Beyrout  with  over  200  students, 
there  are  more  than  100  schools  of  the  most  diverse  grades, 
attended  by  over  6000  scholars,  which  are  centres  of  light  in 
the  country;  of  these  schools,  it  should  be  said,  about  half 
are  supported  by  other  smaller  missionary  societies.  Their 
erection  has  so  stimulated  the  Christians  and  Mohammedans 
of  Syria,  that  school  after  school  has  arisen  among  them  in 

1  The  Gospel  in  the  Ottoman  Empire :   Proceedings  of  the  Mildmay  Con/. , 
1878,  107. 


276  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

order  to  paralyse  the  influence  of  Protestantism.  Equally 
successful  has  been  the  extensive  literary  work,  the  crown  of 
which  is  the  masterly  Arabic  translation  of  the  Bible  by  Smith 
and  Van  Dyke,  completed  in  1865.  The  medical  mission  is 
extending  its  operations  more  and  more  widely.  There  are,  in 
addition,  quite  a  number  of  smaller  missionary  societies,  mostly 
Presbyterian,  at  work  in  Syria,  as  far  up  as  ancient  Antioch ; 
these  taken  together  have  probably  as  many  church  members, 
but  almost  twice  as  many  scholars,  as  the  American  Presby- 
terian Church.1 

209.  The  whole  of  Western  Asia,  from  European  Turkey  as 
far  as  Persia  and  on  into  Eussian  Armenia,  forms  a  prosperous 
mission  field,  worked  mainly  by  the  American  Board.  In  its 
4  districts  of  European,  West,  Central,  and  East  Turkey,  in 
spite  of  the  great  slaughter  among  the  Armenians,  which  may 
have  somewhat  reduced  the  numbers,  the  Board  has  130 
Protestant  congregations,  14,500  communicants,  48,000  ad- 
herents, about  20,000  pupils  in  about  400  schools,  85  ordained 
native  pastors,  and  600  teachers.  And  the  Christians  con- 
nected with  the  Board  raise  yearly  for  church  requirements 
£20,000  ($96,000),  a  considerable  financial  achievement,  which 
shows  that  the  congregations  are  already  almost  self-supporting. 
Besides  Greeks  and  the  Old  (not  United)  Nestorians  or  Syrians, 
it  is  the  Monophysite  Jacobites, — not  very  numerous, — and 
above  all  the  Gregorian  Armenians,  who  are  the  object  of  this 
work  of  evangelisation.  The  Armenians  are  found  dwelling 
in  scattered  fashion  from  Constantinople  all  over  Asia  Minor, 
but  are  to  be  found  in  the  most  compact  bodies  between 
Kurdistan,  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  the  Caucasus.  It  is  among 
them  that  the  Protestant  influence  has  become  most  powerful. 

210.  In  Constantinople  there  are  a  considerable  Protestant 
Armenian  congregation,  which  is  now  independent,  and  an 
independent  higher  educational  institution,  the  Eobert  College, 
which  from  1863  to  1900  has  been  attended  by  about  2000 
pupils,  of  whom  390  have  graduated.  Here  the  talented 
linguist,  Dr.  Biggs,  laboured  for  the  last  47  years  of  his  long 
and  fruitful  life  (d.  1901);  he  translated  the  Bible  into 
Armenian,  Bulgarian,  and  Turkish.  In  West  and  Central 
Turkey  the  higher  schools  at  Marsowan,  Marash,  and  Aintab 
make  these  places  centres  of  influence.  In  East  Turkey, 
Armenia  proper,  where,  however,  successful  work  has  also 
been  done  amongst  Nestorians,  the  horrible  massacres  of  1896 
seriously  disturbed  the  extensive  operations  of  5  chief  stations 
and  130  out-stations.     (Erzrum,  Harput,  and  Mardin  are  the 

1  Anderson,  History  of  (he  Missions  of  the  Amcr.  Board  to  the  Oriental  Churches, 
Boston,  1873,  L  40,  224".     Ghwrch  at  'Home  and  Abroad,  1893,  No.  84. 


THE  OLD  ORIENTAL   CHURCHES  277 

principal  centres.)  But  the  common  suffering  and  the  ener- 
getic assistance  rendered  have  opened  up  for  the  Gospel  more 
widely  than  ever  before  a  way  into  the  Armenian  Church. 
An  eloquent  proof  of  the  deep  power  of  the  Gospel  is  furnished 
by  the  fact  that  in  the  bloody  period  of  persecution,  none  of 
the  Protestant  native  pastors  and  very  few  of  the  church 
members  could  be  induced  to  accept  Islam. 

211.  Evangelical  missions  have  also  cast  their  net  beyond 
the  Turkish  Empire  among  the  Gregorians  and  Nestorians 
living  in  Eussia  (Caucasus)  and  in  Persia.  First  the  Basel 
Missionary  Society  began  in  1823,  by  the  agency  of  the  former 
Eussian  Count  Zaremba,  a  transitory,  though  not  fruitless,  work 
in  Schuscha  and  Schamachi ;  and  then  the  North  American  Pres- 
byterians came  into  the  field  among  the  Nestorian  Christians 
living  on  the  Urmia  Lake  as  far  as  to  Tabris  and  Teheran. 
But  about  the  beginning  of  1899  this  remnant  of  the  Nestorian 
Church  ceased  to  exist,  owing  to  its  conversion  en  masse  to  the 
Eussian  Church,  a  change  which  sprang  from  political  motives, 
and  was  brought  about  in  a  purely  external  way.  Of  the 
Protestants,  only  a  small  fraction  seems  to  have  gone  over. 
The  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  both  in  Bagdad,  which  is  still 
on  Turkish  ground,  and  in  Julfa,  the  suburb  of  Ispahan  in 
Persia,  aim  more  at  the  Mohammedan  population.  Through 
Dr.  Bruce  this  society  has  brought  out  a  well  -  translated 
Persian  New  Testament. 

Besides  the  Anglican  High  Church  mission,  which  alto- 
gether eschews  proselytism,  and  even  works  directly  into  the 
hands  of  the  Eussian  propaganda,  there  are  also  London 
Baptists,  Norwegian  Lutherans,  Herrnannsburg  missionaries, 
etc.,  at  work,  not  only  in  and  around  Tabris,  but  elsewhere 
through  Asia  Minor.  The  German  Orient  Mission,  which  is 
still  in  its  youth,  has  till  now  practically  confined  itself  to  the 
training  of  numerous  Armenian  orphans  left  by  the  massacres. 

212.  Eeviewing  the  whole  work  of  evangelisation  directed 
by  Protestants  to  the  Oriental  churches  under  Mohammedan 
dominion,  we  find  the  statistical  result  to  be  already  consider- 
able. There  are  250  organised  evangelical  congregations,  with 
24,000  to  25,000  communicants  and  80,000  to  90,000  Christian 
adherents ;  700  schools  of  very  varied  grades,  with  45,000 
scholars  (boys  and  girls);  and  12  solid  translations  of  the  Bible, 
in  addition  to  an  abundance  of  other  literature.  But  these 
numbers  denote  a  leaven  mingled  with  the  old  Christian 
population,  which  has  produced  fermentation  even  where  the 
ecclesiastical  officials  are  hostile  to  all  reforming  movements. 
Very  specially  among  the  Armenians  is  this  quickening  breath 
traceable,  which  has  gone  forth  from  evangelical  preaching  and 


278  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

schools,  and  it  may  be  just  the  intellectual  awakening  of  the 
people  that  has  specially  provoked  the  fanatical  hatred  of  the 
Turks.  In  any  case,  in  the  success  gained  up  to  this  time, 
there  is  justification  for  the  hope  that  within  the  Oriental 
churches  there  are  men  qualified  to  become  witnesses  of  the 
Gospel  among  the  Mohammedans  when  God's  hour  for  missions 
among  them  strikes. 

212a.  In  Arabia  there  has  been  an  endeavour  since  1885 
to  carry  on  a  mission  exclusively  to  Mohammedans.  The  Hon. 
Ian  Keith  Falconer,  Professor  of  Arabic  at  Cambridge,  founded 
the  first  station,  Sheikh  Othman,  near  Aden,  but  soon  died, 
and  since  then  his  work  has  been  carried  forward  by  the 
United  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  specially  as  a  medical  mission, 
a  sowing  in  hope.  The  missionary  efforts  of  the  venerable 
Bishop  French  in  Muscat,  as  well  as  those  of  the  North  Africa 
Mission  and  of  the  Alliance  Mission  among  the  Bedouins,  have 
come  to  nought.  At  present  the  North  American  Reformed 
Church  maintains  some  missionaries  and  doctors  at  3  stations 
(Busra,  Bahrein,  and  Muscat),  but  without  having  as  yet  effected 
any  conversions.  The  brave  pioneer  of  this  mission,  P.  Zwenier, 
died  in  1898  after  six  years'  toilsome  labour.1 

The  Catholic  Church  carried  on  a  very  extensive  and  also  very 
successful  Romanizing  work  among  the  Oriental  schismatics.  But  I 
abstain  from  any  survey  of  it,  as  it  is  a  mission  neither  to  Mohammedans 
nor  to  the  heathen. 

1  S.  W.  Zwemer,  Arabia :  the  Cradle  of  Islam,  Edinburgh  and  London,  1900. 


CHAPTER    IV 

ASIA 

213.  The  mission  field  in  Asia  is  in  more  than  one  respect 
essentially  different  from  the  fields  hitherto  traversed.  We 
have  here  to  do,  not  exclusively  but  chiefly,  with  great 
empires,  of  which  some  are  still  politically  quite  independent, 
while  others  are  wholly  subject  to,  or  stand  in  greater  or  less 
dependence  upon,  some  European  colonial  power.  National 
consciousness,  it  is  true,  is  not  everywhere  equally  strong 
and  ambitious ;  but  there  exists  throughout  a  great  compact- 
ness among  the  peoples,  by  which  they  are  always  held  to- 
gether, whether  by  means  of  State  organisation,  historical 
tradition,  or  agreement  in  customs,  language,  or  religion. 
From  this  proceeds  a  national  solidarity  which  presents  to 
Christianity  a  resistance  quite  different  from  that  of  small 
tribes  which  are  broken  up  and  in  process  of  decomposition. 
Moreover,  these  empires  embrace  the  civilised1  peoples  of 
the  non-Christian  world.  The  civilisation  which  they  repre- 
sent is,  indeed,  neither  equal  in  quality  to  that  of  the  Christian 
West,  nor  does  it  penetrate  the  nations  through  and  through, 
but  nevertheless  it  raises  them  high  above  the  so-called 
Nature-peoples.  It  bears  witness  to  a  great  past  history  of 
civilisation,  and  it  fits  them  to  appropriate  for  themselves 
the  attainments  of  the  civilisation  of  the  Christian  West.  The 
possession  of  civilisation  is  in  itself,  indeed,  not  at  all  a  power 
hostile  to  the  Gospel.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  become  a 
factor  of  great  helpfulness  to  the  mission,  in  facilitating  the 
intellectual  apprehension  of  the  Gospel  and  the  training  of 
native  helpers,  and  in  furthering  the  independence  of  the 
native  congregations.  In  any  case,  however,  it  modifies  mis- 
sionary operations,  and  when  it  is  combined  with  arrogance, 
national  pride,  old-fashioned  customs  and  religious  prejudice, 
it  may  become  a  great  hindrance  to  the  propagation  of  the 
Gospel.      A   third   circumstance,   too,   should   be   considered, 

1  In  this  paragraph   "civilisation"   is   used  as,   on  the  whole,   the  most 
serviceable  equivalent  for  the  German  word  "Kultur." — Tn. 

27  y 


280  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

namely,  that  these  civilised  peoples  have  old  compact  religions, 
with  sacred  literatures,  on  which  their  intellectual  education 
rests,  and  that  these  religions  dominate  their  whole  moral, 
social,  and  to  some  extent  their  political  life.  Hence  it  will 
be  understood  that  for  the  victory  of  Christianity  among  them 
a  longer  and  more  strenuous  struggle  will  be  needed  than 
among  the  Nature-peoples,  with  their  religions  of  animism  or 
fetichism,  which  are  also  devoid  of  literature. 

Section  1.  India 

214.  The  first  of  these  great  empires  to  which  we  come  in 
Asia  is  India,1  an  immense  territory,  with  a  population,  accord- 
ing to  the  census  of  1901,  of  283  millions,  and,  exclusive  of 
Burmah,  of  294^  millions.  This  huge  empire,  indeed,  presents 
a  unity  only  inasmuch  as,  notwithstanding  the  153  vassal 
States,  whose  independence  is  only  in  appearance,  it  stands 
under  the  sceptre  of  Britain.2  In  other  respects  it  is  a  very 
variegated  world,  with  great  differences  as  to  race,  language, 
and  religion.  According  to  race,  the  population  is  divided 
into  the  two  chief  groups,  fundamentally  distinct  from  each 
other,  of  the  immigrant  Aryans  and  the  native  Dravids,  each 
of  which  again  embraces  very  various  types.  Although  they 
live  mingled  together  throughout  the  whole  of  India,  yet  the 
northern  triangle,  Hindustan,  is  mainly  inhabited  by  Aryans, 
the  southern  Deccan  by  Dravids.  But  the  Aryans,  who  make 
up  the  great  majority  and  are  the  custodians  of  the  old  Indian 
civilisation,  and  the  Dravids,  some  of  whom  have  been  drawn 
into  this  development  of  civilisation,  while  others  have  re- 
mained untouched  by  it  and  stand  almost  on  the  level  of  the 
Nature-peoples,  represent  only  four-fifths  of  the  Indian  popu- 
lation. The  remnant  is  made  up  of  Mohammedans  (57£ 
millions),  partly  immigrants  and  partly  proselytes,  a  mixed 
multitude  of  various  races,  amongst  whom  the  religious  bond 
of  unity  has  become  almost  a  national  bond.  —  With  the 
ethnographic  variety  is  closely  associated  the  linguistic.  Be- 
sides the  two  chief  families  of  languages,  the  Aryan,  spoken  by 
more  than  200  millions,  and  the  Dravidian,  spoken  by  over  50 
millions,  which  possess  literatures,  there  is  a  third  family,  the 
Kolarian,  spoken  by  some  4  to  5  million  hill-people,  who  had  no 
writing  till  missions  came  among  them.  Besides,  there  is  a 
large  number  of  isolated  languages  which  cannot  properly  be 

1  Grant,  A  History  of  India,  2  vols.,  London,  1876.  Hunter,  The  Indian 
Empire,  2nd  cd.,  London,  1886.  Caird,  India:  the  Land  and  the  People, 
London,  1883.     Adams,  India,  London,  1887. 

2  The  French  possessions  have  273,185  inhabitants,  the  Portuguese  572,290. 


ASIA  28l 

brought  under  this  classification.  The  two  chief  families  of 
languages  again  branch  into  a  multitude  of  separate  languages, 
which  differ  from  each  other  as  much  as,  or  even  more  than, 
the  different  languages  of  Europe.  Of  the  nearly  120  languages 
in  India,  of  which,  indeed,  only  20  were  spoken  by  more  than 
a  million  people,1  Hindi 2  and  Bengali  are  most  widely  spread, 
the  former  being  spoken  by  89  millions,  and  the  latter  by  41 
millions ;  and  next  to  these  come  Marathi  and  Punjaubi,  which 
likewise  belong  to  the  Aryan  family,  and  are  spoken  by  10  and 
17  millions  respectively.  Of  the  Dravidian  family,  Telugu 
with  20  millions,  and  Tamil  with  15  millions,  have  the  largest 
constituencies. — Finally,  the  religions  are  also  very  varied.3 
The  most  numerous  adherents — 207  millions — have  been  won 
by  Brahmanical  Hinduism,  which  again  really  combines  the 
most  varied  forms,  from  the  sublimest  pantheistic  philosophy 
(Vedantism)  to  the  coarsest  polytheistic  idolatry,  profoimd 
speculations  and  the  wildest  fantasies,  even  childish  absurd- 
ities, moral  truths  and  immoral  myths,  in  wonderful  mixture. 
Eeligious  thought  and  moral  conduct  are  alike  dominated  by 
pantheism,  which  makes  it  exceedingly  difficult  for  the  people 
to  understand  the  Christian  conception  of  personality,  alike  in 
God  and  in  man,  and,  combined  as  it  is  with  the  doctrine  of  the 
transmigration  of  souls,  deadens  the  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility and  guilt.  Next  in  respect  to  the  number  of  adherents 
comes  Mohammedanism,  most  widespread  in  the  north,  with 
62|  millions.  In  India  it  has  clung  fast  to  its  monotheism 
and  fanaticism,  but  it  has  accommodated  itself  in  many  ways 
to  the  social  life  of  the  country.  More  than  9  millions  of  the 
aboriginal  population,  mostly  mountain  tribes,  favour  a  coarse 
demon-worship,  which  enslaves  them  with  the  fear  of  enchant- 
ments. Buddhism,  although  its  home  is  in  India,  and  although 
it  is  the  strictest  consequence  of  the  Indian  religious  views, 
has  few  adherents  in  India  proper.  The  7|  millions  of 
Buddhists  given  by  the  census  belong  to  Burma,  and  the 
religion  which  they  practise  now  is  much  less  like  the  atheistic, 
ascetic,  and  ethical  Buddhism  of  the  ancient  sources  than,  say, 
the  Eomanism  of  South  America  is  like  primitive  Christianity. 
There  are  still  two  other  Indian  sects,  the  Jains  and  the  Sikhs. 

1  Cust,  The  Modern  Languages  of  East  India,  London,  1878.  Linguistic 
and  Oriental  Essays,  London,  1887,  ii.  ser.  53.  The  Races,  Religions,  and 
Languages  of  Indict  as  disclosed  by  the  Census  of  1891. 

2  To  be  carefully  distinguished  from  Hindustani  or  Urdu,  which  is  a  dialect 
of  Hindi  interspersed  with  Persian,  is  spoken  by  all  Mohammedans,  and  in  the 
lingua  franca  of  North  India  is  (along  with  English)  the  official  language  of  the 
Anglo-Indian  Government. 

3  Vaughan,  The  Trident,  the  Orescent,  and  the  Cross:  a  View  of  the  Religious 
History  of  India  during  the  Hindu,  Buddhist,  Mohammedan,  and  Christian 
Periods,  London,  1S76. 


282  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  Jains,  who  are  the  older  sect,  and  number  1£  millions,  are 
to  be  found  especially  in  the  Bombay  Presidency.  Their  faith 
is  a  mixture  of  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism ;  they  reject  caste, 
practise  worship  of  the  saints,  and  spare  most  religiously 
every  living  thing.  Much  younger  is  the  sect  of  the  Sikhs  in 
the  Punjaub,  who  number  2  millions,  and  whose  faith  is  a 
mixture  of  Brahmanism  and  Mohammedanism.  At  the  first 
they  laid  stress  on  piety  of  life  and  union  with  the  Deity ;  but 
they  soon  came  to  form  a  political  party,  and  with  its  over- 
throw their  religious  enthusiasm  was  quenched.  The  file- 
worshipping  Parsees,  of  whom  there  are  only  90,000,  occupy, 
in  spite  of  their  small  number,  a  respectable  and  influential 
place.  Many  of  them  are  prosperous  and  enlightened  mer- 
chants. 

215.  In  addition  to  this  great  variety,  ethnographic, 
linguistic,  and  religious,  or  rather,  in  combination  with  it, 
there  is  a  social  division  which  is  quite  peculiar  to  the  popu- 
lation of  India,  and  which  corresponds  to  no  difference  of 
rank  elsewhere,  namely,  caste.  This  undefinable  institution, 
bound  up  with  birth,  and  therefore  inheritable  and  in- 
dissoluble, which  makes  the  variety  in  nationality,  social 
standing,  and  calling  into  an  insurmountable  separation  of 
classes,  and  is  so  interpenetrated  with  religion  that  the  cere- 
monial caste-purity  forms  the  Indian  ideal  of  holiness,  and  the 
violation  of  caste  rules  is,  for  a  Hindu,  the  chief  sin, — this  un- 
natural institution,  which  bids  defiance  to  all  healthy  social 
life,  imposes  fetters  on  all  healthy  progress,  and  along  with 
the  dominant  pantheistic  view  of  the  world  kills  all  sense  of 
personal  responsibility,  is  such  a  peculiar  and  gigantic  hin- 
drance to  Christian  missions  as  is  to  be  found  in  no  other 
mission  field.  Even  the  increasing  inflow  of  Western  civilisa- 
tion, which  has  indeed  begun  here  and  there  to  sap  the 
foundations  of  the  edifice  of  caste,  has  up  till  now  not  been 
able  to  shake  it  in  any  considerable  degree. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  form  a  conception  of  the  multi- 
tude of  ramifications  in  the  caste-system.  The  traditional 
fourfold  division  into  Brahmans  (priests),  Kshatriya.s  (warriors), 
Vaisyas  (peasants  and  artisans),  and  Sudras  (servants)  does 
not  at  all  correspond  with  the  actual  facts  of  to-day.  Even 
the  Brahmans  are  divided  into  innumerable  subordinate  castes, 
which  mutually  refuse  to  associate  with  each  other.  The  usual 
reckoning  of  the  castes  as  3000  in  number  is  only  a  summary 
taking  account  only  of  the  chief  castes.  In  South  India  alone 
there  are  said  to  be  19,000  caste  divisions.  In  Travancore, 
which  is  comparatively  small,  there  are  420  castes,  and  in 
Mysore  there  are  84,  with  340  subdivisions.      Conversion  to 


ASIA  283 

Christianity  always  involves  loss  of  caste,  and  this  implies 
a  social  isolation  which  threatens  even  the  means  of  existence. 
If  a  considerable  number  of  the  members  of  one  caste  are 
gained  for  Christianity,  the  members  of  every  other  caste  bar 
themselves  against  it.  The  greatest  evil  of  all  would  be  if  the 
Christian  society  itself  came  to  be  regarded  as  a  caste.  And 
thus  caste,  and  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  it,  constitute  one 
of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  Indian  missions.1 

216.  Christianity  was  undoubtedly  known  in  the  first 
centuries  on  the  south-west  coast  of  India  (Malabar).  Even 
if  the  legend  of  the  missionary  labour  of  the  Apostle  Thomas 
in  India  cannot  bear  criticism,  yet  the  fact  is  indisputable  that 
at  the  end  of  the  second  century  Pantsenus  visited  India  from 
Alexandria,  and  that  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  there 
were  Christians  there,  who  at  a  later  time  came  under  the 
influence  of  the  Persian  Nestorians.  The  Syrian  or  Thomas 
Christians  of  the  present  day,  of  whom  there  are  still  248,000, 
are  undoubtedly  connected  with  these.  This  old  Christianity 
was  indeed  soon  isolated,  and  has  remained  in  a  degenerate 
state  and  without  missionary  influence. — Then  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  with  the  beginning  of  the  Portuguese  dominion,  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  started  mission  work  in  India,  which, 
particularly  under  the  Jesuits,  who  entered  into  the  work  with 
Xavier,  attained  an  apparent  prosperity,  greatly  magnified  by 
boastful  rhetoric,  and  then  from  the  second  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  onwards  fell  into  marked  decline,  but  has 
now,  since  the  Twenties  of  the  nineteenth  century,  made  a  new 
advance,  rivalling  that  of  evangelical  missions.  Particulars  later. 

217.  Evangelical  missions  began  their  work  in  India2  in 
1706  at  Tranquebar  on  the  south-east  coast,  which  was  at  that 
time  a  Danish  possession.  Its  pioneers  were  the  German 
missionaries  Bartholomew  Ziegenbalg  and  Henry  Plutschau, 
who  were  sent  out  by  Frederick  iv.  of  Denmark ;  both  were 
pupils  of  August  Hermann  Francke,  and  most  of  their  suc- 
cessors were  also  Germans  and  Pietists.  Besides  the  natural 
difficulties  connected  with  the  beginning  of  the  first  mission 
in  India,  Ziegenbalg  had  also  much  to  endure  from  the  hostility 
of  the  Danish  governor  and  from  the  unwise  management  of 
the  authorities  at  home.  He  died  so  early  as  1719,  but  by  his 
preaching  in  the  native  tongue,  by  instruction,  Bible  transla- 

1  Warneck,  Ev.  Missionslehre,  iii.  301. 

2  Hough,  History  of  Christianity  in  India  from  the  Commencement  of  the 
Christian  Era,  London,  1849-60,  5  vols.  Sherring,  The  History  of  Protestant 
Missions  in  India  from  their  Commencement  in  1706  to  1871,  London,  1875. 
Ci.  Smith,  The  Conversion  of  India,  from  Pantanus  to  the  Present  Time,  London, 
1S93.     The  Church  Miss.  Atlas,  8th  ed.,  London,  1896,  81,  India. 


284  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

tion,  and  the  erection  of  a  seminary  for  teachers  and  catechis  s 
as  well  as  by  his  prudent  attitude  towards  Indian  manners  and 
customs,  he  had  laid  a  good  foundation.  He  gathered  a  little 
congregation,  built  a  beautiful  church,  which  is  used  up  to  the 
present  day,  and  spread  Christianity  even  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Tranquebar.  His  second  successor  was  Benjamin  Schultze, 
an  earnest  but  self-willed  man,  who  was  engaged  especially 
in  literary  work  and  itinerary  preaching.  He  afterwards  went 
to  Madras,  at  the  cost  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge,  and  there  gathered  a  congregation,  and  to  his  other 
literary  productions  added  some  elementary  translations  in 
Telugu.  In  Madras  he  was  followed  by  Philip  Fabricius,  an 
extremely  amiable  and  linguistically  gifted  missionary,  who 
so  admirably  improved  the  Tamil  translation  of  the  Bible  that 
in  a  new  revision  it  is  still  in  use  to-day.  Meanwhile  the 
work  in  and  around  Tranquebar  had  gone  on,  and  had  spread 
already  to  Tanjore  and  even  to  Madura.  In  1740  this  old 
Lutheran  mission  had  counted  5600  Christians.  Then,  ten 
years  later,  there  entered  on  the  work  the  man  who  became 
not  only  the  most  eminent  of  the  old  Lutheran  missionaries, 
but  one  of  the  greatest  of  Indian  missionaries  in  general — 
Christian  Frederick  Schwartz.  During  a  period  of  service  of 
nearly  fifty  years,  ending  with  his  death  in  1798,  he  did  a  truly 
apostolic  work.  After  twelve  years  of  varied  activity  in  and 
around  Tranquebar,  he  was  led  to  go,  at  the  cost  of  the 
S.  P.  C.  K.,  to  which  he  afterwards  entirely  transferred  his 
services,  to  Trichinopoly  and  later  to  Tanjore,  from  which  place 
his  missionary  influence  extended  over  the  whole  of  South  India, 
and  in  particular  to  Tinnevelly.  He  was  called  the  "  King's 
priest,"  because  the  dying  Eajah  of  Tanjore,  with  unbounded 
confidence  in  his  honour,  had  entrusted  him  with  the  guardian- 
ship and  education  of  the  heir  to  his  throne ;  but  still  more 
honourable  was  the  name  of  "  Father,"  accorded  to  him  by  the 
universal  love  and  respect  which  he  enjoyed  among  all  the  people. 
His  pupil  Serfojee  erected  to  his  memory  in  the  church 
of  the  fort  at  Tanjore  a  splendid  marble  monument  with  the 
inscription :  "  The  spotless  uprightness  and  purity  of  his  life 
called  forth  as  a  tribute  the  respect  of  Christians,  Moham- 
medans, and  Hindus.  For  ruling  princes,  both  Hindu  and 
Mohammedan,  chose  the  modest  priest  as  intermediary  in 
their  political  transactions  with  the  British  Government."  And 
on  the  granite  slab  which  covers  his  bones  there  stand  these 
verses  in  English  from  the  pen  of  the  same  Hindu  prince — 

"  Finn  wast  thou,  humble  and  wise, 
Honest,  pure,  free  from  disguise ; 
Father  of  orphans,  the  widow's  support, 
Comfort  in  sorrows  of  every  sort : 


ASIA  285 

To  the  benighted,  dispenser  of  light, 
Doing  and  pointing  to  that  which  is  right. 
Blessing  to  princes,  to  people,  to  me, 
May  I,  my  father,  be  worthy  of  thee, 
Wisheth  and  prayeth  thy  Serfojee." 

Unfortunately  this  hopeful  mission  was  supplied  more  and 
more  poorly  with  money  and  men l  from  home,  and  the  gifts 
of  the  English  S.  P.  C.  K.,  too,  became  scantier.  And  so  the 
South  Indian  congregations,  the  membership  of  which  about 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  amounted  at  most  to 
15,000,  went  back  both  outwardly  and  inwardly  because  of  the 
want  of  efficient  care.  It  was  only  considerable  remnants  that 
were  afterwards  received  into  connection  with  the  C.  M.  S. 
when,  in  1813,  it  began  its  work  in  India,  or  attached  them- 
selves in  1845  to  the  Leipsic  Mission  of  the  Lutheran  Church. 
In  Tinnevelly  the  work  begun  by  Schwartz  was  carried  on 
from  1814  to  1838  by  a  German  missionary  in  the  service  of 
the  C.  M.  S.,  Karl  Ehenius,  a  pupil  of  Janicke,  who  had  been 
previously  settled  in  Madras,  a  man  regarding  whom  Caldwell, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Tinnevelly — a  High  Churchman — bears 
this  testimony :  "  A  more  able,  discerning,  practical,  and  zealous 
missionary  India  lias  hardly  ever  seen."  His  great  merit  is 
that  he  early  laboured  to  give  a  healthy  measure  of  ecclesiastical 
independence  to  the  native  congregations,  and  that  he  trained 
capable  helpers  from  among  the  natives,  with  whose  aid  he 
succeeded  in  adding  more  than  10,000  souls  to  the  existing  con- 
gregations. He  came  into  conflict  with  the  Indian  Episcopate  and 
the  C.  M.  S.  on  the  question  of  episcopal  ordination  and  matters 
connected  with  it,  his  ecumenical  church  standpoint  having  for 
a  long  time  previously  caused  all  sorts  of  friction.  After  being 
dismissed  from  the  service  of  the  C.  M.  S.  in  1835,  he  laboured 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life  (d.  1838)  as  a  free  missionary. 

218.  But  we  must  return  once  more  to  1793.  In  this  year 
William  Carey,  whose  acquaintance  we  have  already  made  (pars. 
51,  59)  as  the  chief  pioneer  of  the  modern  missionary  movement 
in  England,  and  the  founder  of  the  Baptist  Missionary  Society, 
set  foot  on  the  shores  of  India.  As  undismayed  by  the  power- 
ful opposition  of  the  Government  and  the  whole  tendency  of 
the  time,  so  hostile  to  any  mission,  as  he  was  undiscouraged 
by  all  the  disappointments  due  to  friends  and  the  difficulties 
occasioned  by  his  own  mistakes  and  those  of  his  fellow-workers, 

1  The  few  more  missionaries  who  were  sent  were — with  the  exception  of 
Gericke  and  Janicke — men  unsuitable  for  the  missionary  vocation,  good  ration- 
alists, who  admired  in  Jesus  the  sage  of  Nazareth,  and  at  best  sought  to  perfect 
the  morality  of  the  heathen  poets,  but  who  could  affirm  the  proposition  that 
"missions  must  cease  to  be  an  institution  for  conversion," 


286  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

he  held  out  for  forty  years  on  the  battlefield  till  the  victory 
was  won.1  The  capital  of  Bengal  shut  its  gates  against  him  ; 
and  when  he  could  not  stay  on  British  territory  even  as 
indigo -planter,  he  removed  after  some  years  to  Serampore, 
at  that  time  Danish,  some  six  hours  to  the  north  of  Calcutta, 
where  the  governor  had  already  given  a  friendly  reception  to 
the  two  fellow-workers  sent  after  him,  Marshman  and  Ward. 
Here  this  "  Serampore  Trio "  developed  during  many  years 
a  steadily  growing  evangelistic,  educational,  humanitarian,  and, 
above  all,  literary  activity,  which  has  been  of  the  most  far- 
reaching  significance  for  the  work  of  missions  in  India,  and  has 
put  to  shame  all  attempts  "  to  harry  the  nest  of  these  conse- 
crated cobblers."  One  translation  of  the  Bible  after  another 
issued  from  the  busy  Serampore  printing-press.2  Conversions 
followed  which  attracted  attention  ;  and  at  the  death  of  Carey 
in  1834,  and  of  Marshman  in  1837,  there  were  18  stations, 
of  which  Serampore  was  the  parent,  manned  in  part  by  native 
preachers,  extending  up  to  Allahabad  and  Benares,  and  even 
as  far  as  Burma  and  Ceylon.  Much  trouble  was  caused  by 
malicious  slanders,  by  a  great  fire,  by  financial  embarrassment, 
ind  by  a  long-continued  strife  with  the  missionary  adminis- 
tration at  home.  Yet  the  word  was  always,  "  Cast  down,  but 
not  destroyed."  The  hostility  to  Carey  reached  its  sharpest 
point  after  the  departure  of  Governor- General  Lord  Wellesley 
in  1805.  He  had  at  least  shown  good-will  to  the  scientific 
labours  of  the  Serampore  missionaries,  and  had  even  made 
Carey  professor  of  Bengali  in  a  college  erected  by  him  in 
Calcutta.  At  Carey's  instigation  he  had  also  taken  the  first 
step  towards  the  abolition  by  law  of  some  cruel  Indian  prac- 
tices, first  of  all  that  of  the  drowning  of  children  ;  the  burning 
of  widows  (Suttee)  was  not  forbidden  till  1829,  under  Lord 
Bentinck's  administration.  The  "  old  Indians "  became  ever 
more  embittered  on  account  of  the  growing  influence  of  the 
missionaries,  forbade  them  all  further  work  on  British  soil, 
and  tried  even  to  render  impossible  the  continuation  of  the 
mission  in  Serampore.  The  missionaries  were  surrounded  with 
spies;  the  matter  of  their  writings  was  traduced  by  false 
English  translations;  they  were  charged  with  uttering  pro- 
vocative speeches;3  and  all  this  was  used  as  a  justification  for 

1  G.  Smith,  The  Life  of  William  Carey,  Shoemaker  and  Missionary,  Pro- 
fessor of  Sanskrit,  Bengali,  and  Marathi  in  the  College  of  Fort  William, 
Calcutta,  London,  1885. 

2  Marshman  even  began,  before  the  London  missionary  Morrison  addressed 
himself  to  this  work,  a  Chinese  translation  of  the  Bible,  which  was  completed 
in  1822  ;  and  he  published  a  Claris  Siniea. 

3  For  example,  one  of  these  "old  Indians"  asserted  that  he  himself  had  seen 
Carey  standing  on  a  tub  "haranguing"  the  crowd  in  the  street,  with  such  un- 


ASIA  287 

shutting  out  the  new  missionaries  of  the  L.  M.  S.  and  the 
American  Board  on  their  arrival. 

This  increase  of  hostility  towards  the  missionaries,  even  to 
extreme  intolerance,  was  the  East  India  Company's  answer  to 
the  attacks  which  meanwhile  were  being  made  in  England  on  its 
wicked  policy  (par.  54).  In  earlier  days,  when  the  Company  was 
purely  an  association  for  trade,  it  had  put  no  hindrances  in  the 
way  of  the  German  missionaries  in  South  India,  and  had  even 
shown  much  favour  to  Schwartz.  But  when  it  had  become 
a  conquering  power,  it  imagined  its  dominion  would  be 
threatened  if  the  religion  and  customs  of  the  Hindus  were 
in  any  way  interfered  with.  The  Court  of  Directors  frankly 
favoured  Indian  heathenism,  and  hated  "  the  Saints "  for  this 
further  reason,  that  the  Anglo-Indians  felt  themselves  em- 
barrassed by  them  in  their  own  immoral  life.  With  the 
watchword,  "Missions  threaten  the  security  of  the  Indian 
Government,"  they  were  denounced,  and  only  after  a  struggle  of 
20  years,  waged  both  in  India  and  in  England,  was  their  battle 
won.  In  1813  the  British  Parliament,  moved  by  the  powerful 
eloquence  of  the  untiring  Wilberforce,  determined  on  the  ad- 
mission of  the  missionaries,  and  with  the  insertion  of  the 
so-called  "  pious  clause  " x  into  the  renewed  charter  of  the  Com- 
pany a  new  period  in  the  history  of  Indian  missions  begins. 

219.  A  condition  was  also  introduced  into  the  Company's 
new  charter,  which  stipulated  for  the  erection  and  extension 
of  an  Anglican  Episcopal  Church  in  India.  By  1814  the  first 
Bishop  of  Calcutta,  Middleton,  was  already  appointed,  but  he 
showed  so  little  friendliness  to  missions  as  to  refuse  ordination 
to  the  missionaries  of  the  C.  M.  S.  This  attitude  on  the  part  of 
the  Indian  Episcopate  was,  however,  reversed  in  1822  under 
Heber,2  the  second  bishop,  who  was  not  only  a  warm  friend  of 
missions,  but  also  became  an  active  helper  in  their  work,  and 
ordained  the  first  native  pastor,  Abdul  Masih,  a  convert  of 
Martyn.  In  1835  and  1837  two  other  bishoprics,  Madras  and 
Bombay,  were  erected.  The  former  diocese  in  1877  obtained 
two  missionary  bishops  for  Tinnevelly,  one  (Sargent)  for  the 
C.  M.  S.  and  one  (Caldwell)  for  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  after  the  death 
of  these  two,  Tinnevelly  and  Madura  became  an  independent 

measured  vituperation,  that  he  would  have  been  done  for  but  for  the  inter- 
vention of  the  police.  It  was  a  slander  without  a  shred  of  basis.  Carey  never 
preached  in  the  streets  of  Calcutta  ;  no  missionary  ever  preached  there  from  a 
tub  ;  the  police  never  interposed  on  behalf  of  any  missionary.  Afterwards  the 
man  acknowledged  that  he  was  only  repeating  a  report. 

1  The  clause  read  thus :  "  It  is  the  duty  of  this  country  to  encourage  the 
introduction  of  useful  knowledge  and  of  religious  and  moral  enlightenment  into 
India,  and  in  lawful  ways  to  afford  every  facility  to  such  persons  as  go  to  India 
and  desire  to  remain  there  for  the  accomplishment  of  such  benevolent  purposes." 

2  Smith,  Bishop  Heber,  London,  1895. 


288  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

bishopric  in  1896.     In  1877  and  1879  three  more  bishoprics 
were  added, — Lahore,  whose  first  bishop  was  Trench,1  the  learned 
as  well  as  practically  able  missionary  of  the  C.  M.  S. ;  Eangoou, 
in  Farther  India,  and  Travancore  with  Cochin.     In  Rangoon 
the  second  bishop,  and  in  Travancore  the  first,  were  missionaries, 
the  one  of  the  S.  P.  G.,  the  other  of  the  C.  M.  S.     Lastly,  an 
eighth  bishopric  was  created  in  Chota  Nagpur  in  1890,  and  a 
ninth  in  Lucknow  in  1892.     The  missionaries  of  the  English 
Church  missionary  societies  are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  these 
bishops,  who  are  now  without  exception  promoters  of  missions, 
although  the  different  positions  they  assume  in  regard  to  the 
different  parties  in  the  church  lead  to  various  kinds  of  friction. 
A  greater  and  earlier  influence  than  that  of  the  English 
episcopate,  in  the  direction  of  a  change  in  favour  of  missions, 
was  exerted  by  5  excellent  chaplains  of  the  Company,  David 
Brown,  Claudius  Buchanan,  Henry  Martyn,  Daniel  Corrie,  and 
Thomas  Thomason.     By  their  personal  piety  and  their  biblical 
preaching,  by  courageously  exposing  and  contending  against  the 
wretched  circumstances  of  India,  by  their  positive  proposals  for 
amelioration,  and  their  open  advocacy  of    the  cause  of  the 
calumniated  and  persecuted  missionaries,  these  men  rendered 
pioneer  service  of  the  most  effective  character  to  Christianity, 
to  the  Anglican  Church,  and  to  evangelical  missions  in  India. 
So  early  as  1788,  Brown,  along  with  two  distinguished  converted 
laymen  in  Calcutta,  sketched  the  plan  of  an  English  Church 
mission,  and  gained  for  it  the  approval  of  Simeon,  the  pious  Cam- 
bridge pastor,  who  extended  it  and  helped  to  bring  it  to  fruition. 
It  was  Buchanan  who  gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  erection  of 
an  Indian  episcopate.     Martyn,  who  carried  the  mission  right 
on  to  Persia,  and  prepared  a  Persian  translation  of  the  Bible, 
exerted  an  electrical  influence  by  an  example  of  the  most  unself- 
ish devotion  to  his  calling.    Corrie  became  later  the  first  Bishop 
of  Madras,  and  in  that  position  actively  fostered  missions. 

220.  The  new  period  of  the  Indian  Mission,  beginning  in 
1813,  extends  to  1857,  when  the  great  Mutiny  broke  out, 
which  led  to  the  abolition  of  the  Company's  rule.  This 
period  was  characterised  by  a  progressive  occupation  of  the  most 
diverse  provinces  of  the  great  empire  by  an  increasing  number  of 
English,  German,  and  American  societies,  by  all  sorts  of  experi- 
ments in  methods  of  work,  and  by  the  tardiness  of  the  initial 
successes,  except  at  Tinnevelly,  where  the  seed  sown  by  Schwartz 
and  Rhenius  bore  comparatively  rich  fruits.  The  work  was  taken 
up,  or  rather  extended,  most  energetically  by  the  English  Dissen- 
ters of  the  London,  Baptist,  and  Wesleyan  Missionary  Societies; 
the  two  English  Church  Societies  followed  much  more  slowly.  In 

1  Bilks,  The  Life  and  Correspondence  of  Th.  V.  French,  London,  1895. 


ASIA  289 

1825,  Scottish  missionaries  began  work ;  and  from  1834  onwards 
Americans  of  different  denominations,  and  German  missionaries 
of  the  Basel,  Leipsic,  and  Gossner  Societies,  entered  the  field. 

Of  far-reaching  importance  for  the  prosecution  of  missions 
were  the  first  beginnings  of  a  work  among  the  Indian  women 
and  girls,  which  was  first  placed  on  a  stable  footing  in  1822  by 
Miss  Cooke,  who  was  connected  with  the  C.  M.  S.,  through 
the  opening  of  a  Girls'  School  in  Calcutta,  after  previous  timid 
attempts  in  the  same  direction  by  Mrs.  Marshman  and  Mrs. 
Wilson.  The  early  endeavours  organised  by  the  Society  for 
Promoting  Female  Education  in  the  East,  which  was  founded 
in  London  in  1834,  inaugurated  amongst  the  female  sex,  which 
at  the  outset  was  quite  inaccessible,  the  women's  missions, 
which  have  subsequently  become  always  more  widely  spread, 
especially  the  greatly  blessed  Zenana  Mission.  Of  still  greater 
moment  was  the  entrance  of  the  Scottish  missionaries,  particu- 
larly of  Wilson  and  Duff,  men  of  large  mould,1  with  whom 
also  Anderson  was  associated.  Both  Wilson  and  Duff  were 
men  of  thorough  scientific  education,  and  they  directed  all 
their  energy  to  the  work  of  bringing  the  Gospel  near  to  the 
higher  classes  of  the  Indian  population.  For  this  end  Wilson, 
besides  the  erection  of  Christian  high  schools,  made  use  of 
positive  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  the  native  language,  which 
he  had  fully  mastered,  preaching  based  on  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  the  Indian  religious  conceptions  and  social  rela- 
tions. Duff  sought  to  attain  the  same  end  mainly  by  means 
of  solid  school  education  conducted  in  the  English  language. 
Wilson,  by  his  comprehensive  studies  of  the  Indian  religions, 
his  reliable  apologetic  arguments,  and  his  diligent  endeavours 
to  find  adequate  expressions  in  the  languages  of  the  country 
for  the  fundamental  conceptions  of  Christianity,  gave  a  fruitful 
stimulus  to  a  presentation  of  the  Christian  message  of  salva- 
tion which  was  really  intelligible  to  the  natives  and  appealed 
to  them  individually.  Duff  made  the  higher  school  instruction, 
which  embraced  all  the  branches  of  knowledge,  but  was  centred 
around  the  Bible,  a  channel  for  missionary  influence  to  ex- 
tensive circles  of  the  educated  population,  which  deepened 
with  time,  and  contributed  not  a  little  to  raising  Christianity  in 
popular  esteem.  It  was  not  his  intention,  in  using  the  English 
language  for  instruction,  to  displace  the  native  languages.  He 
only  wished  it  to  serve  as  a  channel  for  the  conveyance  of  a 
deeper  general  and  Christian  education,  which  should  then, 
through  the   medium  of   the  native  languages,  spread  itself 

1  G.  Smith,  biographies  already  cited.  Braidwood,  True  Yoke-fellows  in  the 
Mission  Field :  the  Life  and  Labours  of  J.  Anderson  and  R.  Johnston,  London, 
1862. 

19 


290  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

gradually  over  the  whole  population.  It  is  not  our  task  here 
to  weigh  against  each  other  the  merits  and  defects  of  Duffs 
missionary  method.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  a  fact  that  this  method 
has  introduced  into  the  process  of  Christianising  India  a  leaven 
which  is  producing  a  powerful  ferment  up  to  the  present  day. 
The  direct  missionary  result  of  it  is  indeed  limited,  if  the 
conversions  achieved  be  counted  and  not  weighed ;  but  so  much 
the  greater  are  the  indirect  results,  not  only  the  negative  result 
that  it  has  helped  greatly  to  undermine  heathenism,  but  also 
the  positive  result  that  it  has  rendered  important  services  in 
the  direction  of  a  more  friendly  attitude  towards  Christianity. 

The  success  of  missions  increased  but  slowly.  When  the  first 
general  missionary  statistics  were  issued  in  1851,  there  were  in 
India  proper,exclusive  of  Burma  andCeylon.no  more  than  91,000 
native  evangelical  Christians,  and  among  these  only  about  15,000 
communicants,divided  over260  far-scattered  congregations.  The 
number  of  pupils  in  the  higher  and  elementary  schools  amounted 
to  64,000.     It  was  still  essentially  the  time  of  foundation  laying. 

With  the  influence  of  Christianity  thus  slowly  increasing, 
the  Anglo-Indian  Government  ventured,  from  the  Thirties 
onwards,  especially  under  the  administration  of  the  benevolent 
Lord  Bentinck,  to  introduce  a  series  of  reforms  which  are  also 
of  significance  for  the  history  of  Indian  missions  :  the  burning 
of  widows  and  self-torture  were  forbidden;  the  Government 
patronage  of  idolatry  was  removed ;  natives  were  admitted  to 
influential  public  offices  without  regard  to  belief ;  the  right  of 
inheritance  was  assured  to  natives  who  had  become  Christians  ; 
the  higher  schools  were  organised  on  the  principles  of  Duff; 
and  support  was  given  to  mission  schools  of  every  kind,  on 
condition  of  a  certain  attainment  in  subjects  of  secular  in- 
struction. In  matters  of  religion  the  Government  adopted  the 
principle  of  neutrality ;  and  though  it  did  not  always  maintain 
it  impartially  with  respect  to  Christianity,  yet  on  the  whole 
the  time  of  opposition  to  the  mission  was  past ;  indeed,  there 
was  an  increasing  number  of  pious  Government  officials,  who 
privately  rendered  to  missions  various  kinds  of  service. 

221.  Then  there  broke  out  in  1857  in  North  India  the 
terrible  Mutiny,  which  for  a  time  seriously  imperilled  the 
continuance  of  the  British  dominion  there.  With  its  sup- 
pression the  Company's  rule  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Queen 
of  England  in  1858  took  over  the  government  with  a  notable 
proclamation,  in  which  she  as  decisively  confessed  her  Christian 
faith  as  she  assured  her  non  -  Christian  subjects  of  religious 
liberty.  This  important  step  introduced  a  new  period  in 
Indian  history,  a  period  which,  in  spite  of  all  that  remains 
still  to  be  desired,  has  brought  the  country  an  abundance  of 


ASIA  291 

benefits ;  and  it  marks  a  new  section  in  the  history  of  missions. 
The  anti  -  missionary  party,  which  would  gladly  have  made 
missions  responsible  for  the  outbreak  of  the  Mutiny,  in  order 
to  find  a  scapegoat  for  its  own  guilt,  was  so  little  able  to 
debauch  popular  opinion,  that,  on  the  contrary,  the  convic- 
tion became  even  more  and  more  dominant  that  Christianity 
was  the  greatest  benefit  to  be  conferred  on  the  Indo-British 
Empire,  and  the  best  guarantee  for  the  permanence  of  British 
dominion.  This  conviction,  which  had  begun  to  prevail  owing 
to  the  fidelity  of  the  native  Christians  during  the  Mutiny, 
and  especially  owing  to  the  heroic  courage  of  the  Christian 
soldiers  and  statesmen,  who  by  holding  the  Punjaub,  the  most 
threatened  province,  had  saved  India  for  Britain,  received  its 
first  official  expression  on  the  occasion  of  the  census  of  1871, 
when  the  Government  declared  its  indebtedness  to  "  the  bene- 
volent exertions  made  by  missionaries,  whose  blameless  example 
and  self-denying  labours  are  infusing  new  vigour  into  the  stereo- 
typed life  of  the  great  populations  placed  under  English  rule, 
and  are  preparing  them  to  be  in  every  way  better  men  and 
better  citizens  of  the  great  empire  in  which  they  dwell." 

Missions,  too,  had  suffered  severely  from  the  Mutiny,  but 
few  of  the  North  Indian  stations  having  escaped  destruction. 
Besides  a  number  of  missionaries,  many  native  Christians  had 
been  murdered,  who  had  chosen  death  rather  than  deny  their 
faith.  But  the  wheat-corns  laid  in  the  earth  had  brought  forth 
much  fruit,  and  North  Indian  missions  arose  to  new  life.  Pious 
Indian  Government  officials,  particularly  the  two  Lawrences, 
K.  Montgomery,  Herbert  Edwards,  M.  Taylor,  D.  Macleod,  W. 
Muir,  E.  Temple,  and  many  others,  were  warm  defenders  and 
helpers  of  missions.  The  C.  M.  S.  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Methodists  especially  began  in  Northern  and  North-Western 
India  a  work  which  kept  increasing  in  extent  and  in  success, 
while  in  the  South  also,  English,  American,  and  German  missions 
made  considerable  extensions,  and  Indian  auxiliary  societies,  in 
particular  literary  and  women's  missions,  gave  increasing  aid. 
Altogether  there  are  now  60  evangelical  missionary  societies  at 
work  in  India,  of  which,  besides  the  two  great  Anglican  Societies 
(C.  M.  S.  and  S.  P.  G.),  the  London  and  Gossner  Societies,  the 
American  Baptists  and  Episcopal  Methodists  have  fully  two- 
thirds  of  all  the  Indian  Christians  under  their  care.  The 
German  missions — Basel,  Leipsic,  Gossner,  Moravians,  Her- 
mannsburg,  and  Schleswig-Holstein,  which  are  represented  in 
India  by  200  missionaries  and  over  130,000  Christians — also 
occupy  quite  a  respectable  place. 

222.  The  last  missionary  census  took  place  in  1901,1  and 
1  Protestant  Missions  in  India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon;  Statistical  Tables,  1000, 


292 


PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 


furnished  proof  of  a  surprising  increase  of  evangelical  native 
Christians  in  India  during  the  ten  years  from  1890  to  1900. 
It  is  instructive  to  review  the  numerical  progress  of  missions 
in  India  proper  (Burma  and  Ceylon  being  excluded)  from  the 
first  census  in  1851  onwards. 


1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1890 

1900 

Foreign  missionaries . 

339 

479 

488 

586 

857 

9761 

Native  pastors2 

21 

97 

225 

461 

797 

893 

Org.  congregations    . 

267 

291 

2,278 

3,650 

4,863 

5,362 

Communicants . 

14,661 

24,976 

52,816 

113,325 

182,722 

301,699 

Native  Christians 3    . 

91,092 

138,741 

224,258 

417,372 

559,661 

854,8673 

Higher  schools 4 

91 

162 

417 

441 

541 

4114 

Scholars   . 

12,407 

21,090 

41,280 

46,484 

55,148 

51,719* 

Elementary  schools  . 

1,166 

1,446 

1,912 

3,020 

4,770 

5,529 

Male  scholars    . 

40,449 

38,936 

54,241 

84,760 

122,193 

152,442 

Female  scholars 

11,191 

15,969 

27,519 

50,121 

71,500 

83,622 

Total  of  scholars5  . 

64,043 

75,995 

122,372 

107,652 

279,716 

287,783 

If  Burma  and  Ceylon  are  added,  then  the  progressive 
increase  in  the  total  number  of  evangelical  Christians  in 
India  during  the  last  fifty  years  is  shown  by  the  following 
table : — 

Calcutta,  1902.      Report  of  the  Fourth  Decennial  Miss.  Conf.  in  Madras,  Dec. 
1902.     Appendix. 

1  The  number  of  Eurasian  aud  especially  of  European  women  workers  has 
increased  very  remarkably  ;  from  711  in  1890  to  1174  in  1900. 

2  The  native  preachers,  catechists,  etc.,  who  are  not  ordained  are  not  in- 
cluded, for  the  statistics  of  these,  owing  to  the  indefiniteness  of  the  titles,  do 
not  seem  to  be  very  reliable.     For  1900  the  number  given  was  5755. 

3  This  number  is  not  quite  immune  from  criticism,  since  in  some  cases  only 
the  number  of  communicants  is  given,  and  in  others  the  native  Christian  com- 
munity is  reckoned  as  three  times  the  number  of  communicants,  while  German 
missions  do  not  include  catechumens  in  the  Christian  community,  as  seems  to 
be  the  case  in  English  missions.  (The  total  number  of  catechumens  was  92,560.) 
On  the  whole,  the  one  method  balances  the  other  ;  and  since  the  Government 
census,  conducted  quite  independently  of  the  Mission  census,  gives  approximately 
the  same  number  of  evangelical  native  Christians  for  India  proper,  namely, 
866,985,  that  given  in  the  tables  may  he  held  to  be  approximately  assured. 
Census  of  India,  vol.  i.  Part  I.,  Calcutta,  1903,  chapter  vii.  "Religion." 

4  The  term  is  not  clearly  understood.  Formerly  schools  seem  to  have  been 
included  which  are  now  reckoned  as  common  schools.  The  decrease  under  this 
heading  and  the  following  is  therefore  only  in  appearance.  At  present  the  411 
Higher  Schools  include  72  theological  and  educational  seminaries,  with  1623 
scholars,  80  colleges  with  8887  scholars,  and  309  higher  intermediate  and  so- 
called  Anglo- Vernacular  Schools  with  41,209  scholars. 

"  Inclusive  of  orphan  children,  but  exclusive  of  Sunday-school  scholars 
(1000:  274,402). 


ASIA 


293 


1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1890 

1900 

India  Proper. 
Burma  .         .         . 
Ceylon  .        .         . 

91,092 
? 

11,859 

138,731 
59,369 
15,273 

224,253 
62,729 
31,376 

417,572 
75,510 
35,708 

559,661 
89,187 
22,442 

854,867 

124,969 

33,577 

Total    . 

... 

213,373 

318,363 

528,790 

671,290 

1,013,413 

During  the  last  ten  years  accordingly  the  increase  of  native 
evangelical  Christians  has  been — 

In  India  Proper,  about 295,206 

In  Burma  „ 35,782 

In  Ceylon  „ 11,135 


Total 


342,123, 


a  result  deserving  of  all  consideration  as  a  proof  of  the  progress 
of  evangelical  missions  in  India.  Meanwhile  the  number  of 
Christians  has  naturally  increased  still  further,  and  on  the 
ground  of  the  statistics  before  us  it  will  not  be  too  high  an 
estimate  if  we  reckon  the  total  number  of  Christians  at  the 
end  of  1904  as  at  least  1,100,000. 

These  numbers,  however,  are  very  variously  distributed 
over  the  different  regions  and  classes  of  the  population  of  the 
immense  country.  For  India  Proper  this  distribution  and  the 
progress  within  the  different  Provinces  can  best  be  shown  by 
another  statistical  table : — 


Christians. 

Bengal    . 

United  Provinces *  . 

Punjaub  . 

Central  Provinces    . 

Bombay  . 

Madras    . 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1890 

1900 

14,117 

1,732 

98 

271 

638 

74,171 

20,518 

3,942 

1,136 

526 

2,531 

110,078 

46,968 
7,779 
1,870 
2,509 
4,177 
160,955 

83,583 

12,709 

4,762 

4,885 

11,691 

299,742 

108,901 
30,321 
20,709 
11,343 
22,455 

365,912 

145,273 

108,9902 
36,584 
27,352 
30,649 

506,019 

854,S67 

Total     . 

91,027 

138,731 

224,258 

417,372 

559,641 

1  Formerly  the  North-West  Provinces. 

2  The  surprising  increase  in  the  Central  Provinces  belongs  substantially  to 
the  districts  of  the  Episcopal  Methodists  there,  in  which  a  Christian  mass- 
movement  took  place,  and  there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  always  sufficient 
care  in  respect  of  the  numerous  baptisms, 


294 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


Communicants  in 

1851 

1861 

1871 

1881 

1890 

1900 

Bengal    . 

United  Provinces     . 

Punjaub . 

Central  Provinces    . 

Bombay  . 

Madras    . 

3,371 

573 

25 

66 

290 

10,334 

4,620 

1,030 

358 

138 

1,100 

17,730 

13,502 

3,031 

707 

665 

1,591 

33,320 

28,689 
5,021 
1,998 
2,173 
4,887 

70,607 

37,918 

14,728 

6,034 

4,580 

9,122 

110,276 

49,078 

68,771 

8,397 

9,818 

10,976 

154,659 

Total     . 

14,659 

24,976 

52,816 

113,375 

182,658 

301,699 

223.  The  great  mass  of  the  native  Christians  belong  to  the 
lower  castes  or  to  the  casteless  (as  is  even  said  now,  to  the  50 
millions  or  so  of  Panshamas),  and  to  the  aboriginal  tribes,  hill- 
peoples,  etc.  In  the  case  of  many,  the  hope  of  improving  their 
social  and  industrial  condition  has  contributed  to  the  accept- 
ance of  Christianity,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  missions  have 
set  on  foot  an  improvement  in  their  state,  not  only  morally 
and  intellectually,  but  also  socially  and  economically.  While, 
on  the  one  hand,  the  comparatively  great  attachment  of  the 
people  of  the  lower  castes  to  Christianity  has  brought  it  into 
a  certain  contempt ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  devotion  and  pains 
directed  towards  raising  them  have  been  matter  of  admiring 
recognition  even  on  the  part  of  the  Brahmans,  and  begin  to 
provoke  some  imitation  among  heathen  Hindus.  And  it  may 
well  happen  in  India,  as  it  happened  in  the  ancient  Eoman 
empire,  that  the  process  of  Christianisation  will  move  from 
beneath  upwards.  The  spiritual  quality  of  these  Christians 
is  very  varied.  In  most  cases  it  is  still  very  elementary, 
but  there  are  many  individuals  who  by  their  childlike  faith, 
their  intensity  in  prayer,  and  their  self-sacrifice,  do  all  credit  to 
Christianity.  Of  the  morality,  the  same  holds  true ;  with  the 
great  mass  the  upward  movement  from  heathen  immorality 
to  Christian  purity  is  very  slow.  So  far  as  criminal  statistics 
furnish  a  criterion,  they  tell  in  favour  of  the  Christians.  In 
South  India  there  is  1  convicted  of  crime  out  of  2500 
Christians,  1  out  of  447  Hindus,  and  1  out  of  728  Moham- 
medans. 

The  number  of  converts  from  the  higher  castes  seems  to  be 
increasing,  although  a  larger  Christian  movement  among  them 
has  not  yet  come.  Among  the  Christians  of  these  castes, 
whose  conversion  to  Christianity  is  made  difficult  by  the 
special  sacrifice  involved,  there  are  many  living  disciples  of 
Jesus  who  by  word  and  conduct  give  proof  of  their  faith  ;  and 


ASIA  295 

among  the  native  pastors  there  are  outstanding  phenomena, 
men  like  Banerji,  Goreh,  Sheshadri,  Satthianadhan,  Koshi, 
Bose,  Imaduddin,  who  also  carry  on  a  literary  work  which 
may  well  be  set  side  by  side  with  that  of  the  first  Christian 
apologists.  It  may  also  be  presumed  that  the  majority  of 
the  92  native  Christian  jurists,  590  qualified  doctors,  1098 
Government  officials,  and  646  authors  and  editors,  consists 
of  those  belonging  to  the  higher  castes.  The  number  of 
baptized  people  is  far  exceeded  by  that  of  the  "  Secret 
Christians,"  who  either  lack  the  courage  to  step  over  openly, 
or  regard  baptism  as  a  superfluous  ceremony.  Though  the 
edifice  of  Hinduism  is  not  yet  tottering,  it  is  at  least  crumb- 
ling ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  still  almost  unimpaired  thraldom 
of  caste,1  which  even  the  average  Hindu  with  a  European 
education  is  too  faint-hearted  to  break,  it  would  in  itself  alone 
have  far  less  power  of  resistance.  It  is  true  that  along  with 
Western  civilisation  and  the  higher  school  education,  cared  for 
as  it  is  by  a  Government  neutral  in  matters  of  religion,  a  broad 
stream  of  modern  unbelief  is  rolling  into  the  land,  and  under 
its  influence  an  educated  proletariat  is  growing  up  which 
rejects  everything  with  as  much  arrogance  as  superficiality, 
and  constitutes  an  object  for  missionary  effort  almost  more 
difficult  than  the  most  bigoted  orthodox  heathen.  And  yet 
this  movement  has  a  part  in  the  process  of  undermining, 
which,  though  it  does  nothing  positively  to  prepare  a  way  for 
Christianity,  at  any  rate  removes  obstacles  from  its  path. 

224.  The  case  is  similar  with  the  many  kinds  of  Keform 
movements  that  have  been  originated  by  enlightened  Hindus. 
The  enthusiastic  hopes  that  for  some  time  were  bound  up  in 
the  so-called  Brahmo  Somaj  movement,1  particularly  under  its 
rhetorical  leader,  Keshub  Chander  Sen,  have  not  indeed  been 
fulfilled,  as  its  sober  critics  predicted  at  the  outset.  It  numbers 
now  only  4000  members.  The  movement,  whose  real  father 
was  Earn  Mohun  Eoy,  who  died  in  1833,  originated  from  an 

1  "  It  is  the  fashion,"  says  Mr.  Francis,  the  Census  Inspector  of  the  Madras 
Presidency  (Census  of  India,  vol.  xv.  chap.  viii.  p.  128),  "to  assume  that 
these  personal  and  intimate  effects  of  the  caste  system  are  daily  weakening 
under  a  government  which  professes  to  make  no  distinction  of  caste  or  creed  ; 
and  the  fact  that  a  Brahmin  will  travel  in  the  same  railway  carriage  with  a 
Paraiyan,  is  instanced  as  a  sign  of  the  way  in  which  the  old  order  changeth. 
But  the  real  depth  to  which  the  modem  solvents  of  the  system  have  penetrated 
is  probably  too  often  overestimated.  .  .  .  No  doubt  in  towns  and  on  journeys 
caste  prejudices  and  rules  have  to  be  relaxed,  but  once  back  in  his  own  village 
the  traveller  is  as  particular  as  ever.  There  is  an  old  proverb  which  says, 
'In  towns  a  quarter  of  ordinary  caste  suffices,'  and  in  a  railway  carriage  the 
fraction  is  perforce  even  smaller.  But  the  departure  from  orthodoxy  is  only 
temporary. " 

"Collet,  Keshub  Chander  Sen:  the  Brahmo  Somaj;  Lectures  and  Tracts, 
London,  1870, 


296  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

apprehension  of  religious  truth,  but  it  degenerated  more  and 
more,  either  to  an  ordinary  rationalistic  liberalism,  or  to  a 
mysticism  rich  in  phrases  and  ceremonies,  and  its  whole  energy 
was  spent  in  words.  Though  in  its  language  often  much  in- 
clined to  Christianity  and  friendly  to  missions,  it  has  not  on 
the  whole  proved  a  bridge  to  Christianity,  nor  has  it  exerted 
any  noteworthy  reformatory  influence  on  Hinduism.  Never- 
theless it  was  a  characteristic  symptom  of  the  religious  ferment 
which  the  Christian  leaven,  along  with  Western  education,  had 
begun  to  stir  among  the  Hindus. 

An  equally  characteristic  symptom  are  the  various  direct 
reactions  against  Christianity,  which  seek  to  counteract  its 
missions  by  a  more  or  less  reformational  revival  of  Hinduism. 
They  do  this  partly  by  sounding  the  watchword,  "  Back  to  the 
Vedas!"  as  is  done  by  the  Arya  Somaj  (67,000  members), 
which  was  founded  by  the  Brahmin,  Swami  Dayanand  Saras- 
wati  (died  in  1883),  and  is  influential  chiefly  in  the  Punjaub 
and  the  United  Provinces,  but  is  now  split  into  two  groups, 
one  more  progressive,  and  one  more  conservative ;  and  partly, 
as  is  done  by  the  more  scientific  movement,  by  reconstructing 
out  of  the  Vedantic  philosophy  the  universal  ideal  of  Hinduism, 
and  seeking  to  exhibit  it  as  standing  in  unison  with  the  pro- 
gress of  modern  scientific  thought, — both  in  the  proud  self- 
consciousness  that  there  is  nothing  in  Christianity  which  the 
inquiring  spirit  does  not  find  also  in  Hinduism.  Their  methods 
of  agitation  they  have  borrowed  from  Christian  missions  :  they 
send  out  itinerant  teachers,  found  schools,  and  make  use  of 
the  press  in  ever-increasing  measure.  The  support  which  the 
heathen  reactionary  movement  has  received  from  some  adven- 
turous American  and  European  renegades — Colonel  Olcott, 
Madame  Blavatsky,  Mrs.  Besant — is  only  a  piece  of  theatrical 
fireworks,  which  receives  too  much  honour  when  it  is  taken 
seriously.  The  two  first  have  already  withdrawn  from  the 
business  ;  and  of  Mrs.  Besant,  although  her  artistically  boomed 
Central  Hindu  College  at  Benares  has  at  present  considerable 
popularity,  learned  Hindus  of  sober  judgment  themselves  say, 
"  We  do  not  need  her  eloquence  to  gild  what  is  rusted."  Nor 
must  it  remain  unmentioned  that  also  among  the  Moham- 
medans in  Northern  India,  there  is  a  ferment  which  is  mani- 
fested partly  in  the  formation  of  all  manner  of  new  heterodox 
sects,  and  partly  in  syncretist  revival  and  reform  movements.1 

225.  Besides  the  old  missionary  instrument  of  preaching, 
which  is  also  employed  now  in  the  form  of  English  addresses 
to  the  educated,  and  instruction,  an  increasingly  important 

1  C.  M.  Intelligencer,  1904,  249  :   "  Benares  Past  and  Present."     Also,  Eeport 
of  Madras  Conference,  A  pp.  258,  etc. 


ASIA  297 

place  has  been  taken  within  the  last  decade,  especially  in 
Northern  India,  by  medical  work,  including  that  done  by 
women  (begun  by  the  American  ladies,  Miss  Swain  and  Miss 
Seelye),  by  the  work  of  women  for  the  female  sex,  including 
the  Zenana,  village,  and  school  missions,  and  by  literary  work. 
The  number  of  medical  missionaries  is  190 ;  that  of  their 
native  assistants  is  340 ;  the  hospitals  number  130,  and  dis- 
pensaries 220.  There  are  also  41  leper  asylums,  the  founding 
of  which  is  due  chiefly,  though  not  exclusively,  to  a  special 
"Mission  to  the  Lepers."  The  lady  missionaries  increased 
from  370  in  1871  to  711  in  1890,  and  1174  in  1900;  their 
female  native  helpers  from  837  to  5700  in  the  same  time. 
Forty  years  ago  the  women's  apartments  were  as  good  as 
inaccessible,  but  now  40,000  of  them  are  open  to  the  Zenana 
mission.  Even  Hindu  women  take  a  share  in  this  work, 
among  whom  the  Pundita  Kamabai  is  conspicuous.  With 
devoted  self-sacrifice  she  interests  herself  especially  in  the 
young  Hindu  widows,  and  in  the  last  famine  she  rendered 
extensive  assistance.1  Industrial  missions  also  are  always 
spreading  more  widely.  The  whole  Bible  is  translated  into 
13  of  the  chief  languages  of  India,  and  the  New  Testament 
into  13  others.  The  religious  literature  of  books  and  fugitive 
writings,  for  the  promotion  of  which  a  number  of  religious 
book  and  tract  societies  are  diligently  working,  and  in  the 
promotion  of  which  Dr.  John  Murdoch  (d.  1904)  in  par- 
ticular has  rendered  conspicuous  service,  now  runs  into 
thousands,  and  a  whole  series  of  newspapers  and  journals  in 
English  or  one  of  the  Indian  languages  represent  the  interests 
of  Christianity  both  to  the  higher  and  to  the  lower  classes 
of  the  population.  The  organisation  of  the  congregations  is 
almost  everywhere  progressing,  and  if  the  formation  of  fully 
independent  Indian  churches  is  as  yet  a  mere  hope  for  the 
future,  nevertheless  the  process  of  training  for  these  is  pro- 
ceeding on  sound  lines,  both  by  steady  increase  in  the  number 
of  native  pastors,  by  growing  financial  attainments,  and  by 
the  more  and  more  general  introduction  of  church  government, 
for  the  most  part  by  synods. 

226.  To  this  sketch  of  the  history  of  Indian  missions  we 
now  add  a  brief  survey  of  the  extensive  Indian  mission  field. 
Although  its  various  parts  cannot  always  be  adjusted  to  the 
political  divisions  of  the  country,2  in  this  survey  we  shall  keep 

1  Miss.  Review,  1904,  273  :   "Hindu  Widows  and  their  Friend." 

2  The  old  division  into  three  Presidencies  (Bengal,  Madras,  and  Bombay)  no 
longer  exists.  [Only  Madras  and  Bombay  are  still  styled  Presidencies,  and  are 
each  ruled  by  a  Governor,  with  legislative  and  executive  councils ;  Bengal, 
the  United  (North-West)  Provinces,  the  Punjaub,  and  Burma  are  each  under 


298  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

as  close  to  these  as  possible,  making  our  way  from  the  south 
to  the  north. 

South  India.,  which  consists  mainly  of  the  Madras 
Presidency  and  the  vassal  States  of  Travancore  (with  Cochin) 
and  Mysore,  contains,  as  was  remarked  before,  the  most  com- 
pact body  of  Christians.  Here  are  the  Thomas  Christians, 
and  here  Eoman  missions  since  Xavier's  time  have  had  the 
great  mass  of  their  adherents,  and  here,  moreover,  evangelical 
missions,  which  were  instituted  by  Ziegenbalg,  and  had  as 
pioneers  Schwartz  and  Ehenius,  count  over  500,000  Christians. 

227.  The  eastern  part  of  the  southern  point  of  India,  as  far 
as  the  city  of  Madras,  consists  of  Tamil  Land,  or  more  exactly 
the  region  of  the  Tamil  language.  Tinnevelly,  already  referred 
to  repeatedly,  is  its  most  southerly  district.  Here  the  two 
Anglican  Societies  took  over  the  inheritance  of  the  old  Lutheran 
missionaries,  which  was,  to  be  sure,  somewhat  embarrassed. 
Ehenius  struck  out  new  paths,  and  a  number  of  excellent 
workers,  among  whom  Sargent  and  Caldwell — both  subse- 
quently missionary  bishops — were  especially  prominent,  ex- 
tended the  fruitful  mission  field  almost  over  the  whole  conntry.1 
Particularly  among  the  Shanar  (rice  farmers)  Christianity 
more  and  more  found  an  entrance ;  the  famine  at  the  end  of 
the  Seventies  brought  an  increase  to  be  reckoned  by  tens  of 
thousands,  but  there  was  much  chaff  among  the  grain.  From 
an  early  period  the  training  of  a  native  pastorate  has  been 
energetically  cared  for — at  present  the  two  Anglican  missions 
have  75  ordained  native  clergy — but  the  great  mistake  was 
made  of  reducing  the  European  staff  too  quickly  and  too 
largely  (even  now,  after  being  somewhat  increased,  it  includes 
only  12  English  missionaries).  That,  in  connection  with  a  too 
rigorous  treatment  of  certain  surviving  remnants  of  caste, 
in  consequence  of  which  about  8000  Christians  fell  away 
to  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  has  brought  the  Tinnevelly 
mission,  since  about  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  to  a  standstill, 
indeed  even  to  a  backgoing,  which  is  only  now  beginning  to 
be  slowly  overcome.  At  present  about  86,000  Christians 
belong  to  it.  Of  the  numerous  educational  institutions,  the 
Sarah  Tucker  Institute  in  Palamkotta  deserves  special  mention. 
It  is  conducted  by  the  Church  of  England  Zenana  Missionary 

a  Lieutenant-Governor,  and  have  each  a  Legislative  Council  ;  the  Central  Pro- 
vinces, Assam,  Coorg,  Ajmer-Merwara,  British  Baluchistan,  the  Andaman 
Islands,  and  the  North-West  Frontier  Province  are  each  under  a  Chief  Com- 
missioner. In  addition,  there  are  some  smaller  tracts  under  the  direct  admin- 
istration of  the  Governor-General.  The  large  province  of  Bengal  is  now  being 
divided  into  two  administrative  provinces.— Ed.] 

1  Caldwell,  Lectures  on,  the  Tinnevelly  Missions,  London,  1857.  Pettitt, 
The  Tinnevelly  Mission  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  London,  1851.  Stock,  History  of  the 
C.  M.  S.,  London,  1899,  i.  182,  312,  ii.  176,  iii.  162. 


ASIA  299 

Society,  and  in  the  course  of  the  last  20  years  has  sent  out 
over  300  native  female  teachers,  who  have  all  passed  the 
Government  examination. 

228.  North  of  Tinnevelly  lies  Madura,  which  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century  was  the  scene  of  the  activity 
— no  less  admired  than  condemned — of  Robert  de  Nobili. 
Evangelical  missions  made  their  first  beginning  here  in  the 
Thirties  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  are  represented  by 
the  S.  P.  G.,  the  American  Board,1  and  the  Leipzig  Missionary 
Society,  the  last  having  only  three  stations  here.  There  are 
in  Madura  some  24,000  Christians,  of  whom  a  considerable 
percentage  have  been  converted  in  somewhat  large  groups. 
In  the  old  kingdoms  of  Trichinopoly  and  Tanjore,  which  march 
on  the  north  and  north-east,  we  once  more  encounter,  besides 
the  S.  P.  G.  (Trichinopoly,  Tanjore,  Irungalur,  Tranquebar),  the 
Leipzig  Mission,  extending  as  far  as  the  coast,  and  having  here 
about  the  half  of  its  21,500  Christians  (principal  stations: 
Majaveram,  Poreiar,  Shiali,  Tanjore,  and  the  ancient  Tranque- 
bar) ;  after  these  two  societies  the  Wesleyans  also  entered  on 
work  here  (5  stations).  The  number  of  Christians  belonging 
to  the  three  societies  together  is  18,000.  The  region  still 
farther  north,  up  to  the  boundaries  of  the  domain  of  the  Tamil 
language,  embraces  the  southern  part  of  the  Coromandel  Coast 
with  its  hinterland,  as  far  as  Madras  in  the  north-east  and 
Coimbatoor  in  the  south-west.  The  city  of  Madras  forms  the 
centre  of  this  extensive  district,  in  which  we  again  come  on 
the  tracks  of  the  old  Lutheran  missionaries,  Schultze,  Fabricius, 
and  Rhenius.  Eight  different  missionary  societies  have  one 
after  another  taken  possession  of  Madras,  and  of  these,  the 
Leipzig  Mission,  the  two  Anglican  societies,  and  particularly 
the  two  Scottish  missions,  exert  the  greatest  influence, — the 
two  last  chiefly  by  means  of  their  largely  attended  higher 
schools.  The  Madras  Christian  College  of  the  United  Free 
Church  of  Scotland,  founded  by  Anderson  in  1837,  and  now 
admirably  presided  over  by  the  widely  honoured  Principal 
Miller,  ranks  as  the  most  excellent  of  all  the  higher  educa- 
tional institutions  of  India.  The  city  congregations  of  Madras 
have  altogether  rather  over  9000  native  Christians.  The 
congregation  of  3300  Christians  belonging  to  the  C.  M.  S.  is 
fully  independent  and  is  administered  by  native  pastors  alone, 
of  whom  Satthianadhan,  who  died  in  1892,  attained  special 
distinction.  Westwards  from  Madras  the  Reformed  Dutch 
Church  of  America  has  a  mission  in  Arcot  (south),  which  was 
given  over  to  it  in  1857  by  the  American  Board,  and  which 

1  Anderson,  History  of  the  Missions  of  the  A.  B.  C.  F,  M.  in  India,  Boston, 
1875,  220. 


300  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

has  now  23  congregations  with  10,000  Christians.  A  special 
characteristic  of  this  mission  is  that  all  of  the  eight  sons  of  its 
founder,  Dr.  Scudder1  (d,  1855),  as  well  as  three  grandsons 
and  three  granddaughters,  have  been,  and  the  latter  still  are, 
in  its  service.  In  the  south  and  south-west  the  Leipzig 
Mission  has  12  other  stations  between  the  east  coast  and 
Coimbatoor,  and  alongside  of  it  there  are  at  work  the  S.  P.  G., 
the  L.  M.  S.,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  and  others,  having 
altogether  about  25,000  native  Christians.  In  recent  years 
there  has  arisen  a  strong  Christian  movement  amongst  the 
Panchamas  in  the  Madras  region  (as  also  in  the  district  of 
Majaveram  station),  which  at  once  makes  heavy  demands 
upon  the  wisdom  of  the  missionaries  in  respect  of  training,  and 
includes  within  itself  great  economic  problems. 

229.  To  the  north  of  Madras,  though  not  exactly  at  the 
bounds  of  the  Presidency,  the  Tamil  language  domain  passes 
into  that  of  the  Telugu.  In  the  south-eastern  part  of  the 
Telugu  region,  the  Hermannsburg  mission  has  since  1866 
gathered  over  1800  baptized  Christians  at  9  stations;  of 
these,  Naydupett  has  the  largest  congregation,  and  there, 
too,  is  the  seminary.  Farther  northward  is  the  fruitful 
mission  field  of  the  American  Baptists  (B.  M.  U.),  in  which, 
after  twenty  years  of  almost  fruitless  labour,  great  multitudes 
have,  since  the  end  of  the  Sixties,  been  tinning  to  Christianity. 
When,  after  twelve  years  of  discouraging  work,  missionary 
Jewet  came  to  America  to  recruit,  the  field  would  have  been 
abandoned,  had  not  the  sick  missionary  declared :  "  I  know  not 
what  you  will  do.  But  for  myself,  if  the  Lord  gives  me  my 
health,  I  will  go  back  to  live  and,  if  needs  be,  to  die  among 
the  Telugu."  "  Then,"  was  the  answer,  "  we  must  surely  send 
a  man  to  give  you  a  Christian  burial."  So  the  mission  was  con- 
tinued, and  to-day  in  this  region,  once  so  unfruitful,  there  are 
27  chief  stations  and  almost  300  out-stations,  with  55,600  com- 
municants (+  50,000  adherents — Ongole  distriet  the  most 
fruitful),  and  yearly  this  number  is  increased  by  from  1500  to 
2000;  so  that  the  36  American  missionaries  and  63  ordained 
native  preachers  have  plenty  to  do  with  the  work  of  spiritual 
oversight.  In  the  field  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  which  adjoins  to  the  west, 
there  was  a  similar  Christian  mass-movement,  especially  among 
the  out-caste  Mala  within  the  circle  of  the  stations  Guti  and 
Caddapa ;  but  from  want  of  workers  full  advantage  of  the 
movement  has  not  been  taken.  At  the  Society's  16  chief 
stations  and  190  out-stations,  23,000  Christians  have  been 
gathered.     The  harvest  of  the  S.  P.  G.  in  its  Telugu  mission  is 

1  H.  E.  Scudder,  D.  G.  Scudder,  New  York,  1864.     Waterbury,  /.  Scudder, 
X,w  York,  1870. 


ASIA  301 

not  so  considerable — about  10,000  Christians.  In  the  region 
of  the  estuary  of  the  two  large  rivers,  Crishna  and  Godavari, 
lies  the  Telugu  mission  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  is  concentrated 
around  the  five  districts  of  Masulipatarn,  Ellur,  Beswada, 
Eaghavapuram,  and  Kamamat,  and  has  19,000  Christians.  At 
Masulipatarn  is  the  Eobert  Noble  College,  named  after  the 
founder  of  the  station,  from  which  a  number  of  young  converts 
have  been  sent  out  who  afterwards  attained  great  influence. 
In  this  field  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  as  in  its  other  fields,  the  church 
organisation  is  in  process  of  healthy  development.  To  the 
south  and  north  of  the  rivers  named  above,  in  addition  to 
various  free  missionaries  and  the  Canadian  Baptists  (with 
14,000  Christians),  the  American  Lutherans  are  at  work — 
those  of  the  General  Synod  at  Gantur  and  those  of  the 
General  Council  at  Eajamandri,  founded  by  the  North  German 
M.  S.  1843-1848, — at  8  principal  stations  with  considerable 
success  (30,000  baptized  and  8000  catechumens).  In  close 
proximity  to  them  the  Schleswig-Holstein  Missionary  Society 
labours  in  and  around  Jaipur,  after  a  vain  attempt  to  press 
into  the  closed  Bastar.  Of  its  7  stations,  however,  only  2  are 
within  the  Telugu  language  domain,  the  other  5,  the  Jaipur 
stations  (Koraput  and  Kotapad  the  most  important)  being 
within  the  province  of  the  Odiya  language.  This  still  youthful 
mission  is  flourishing  hopefully  (5300  baptized  Christians  and 
3000  catechumens). 

The  great  vassal  State  of  Haiderabad — the  Nizam's  do- 
minions— which  adjoins  on  the  west,  belongs  to  the  Telugu 
region  in  the  west  only,  and  in  the  east  to  the  regions  of  the 
Marathi  and  Kanara  languages.  Here  for  a  long  time  missions 
were  refused  admittance.  Now  work  is  carried  on  by  the 
Anglicans,  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists,  the  American 
Baptists,  and  the  Wesleyans  at  a  splendid  number  of  stations 
(12,500  Christians). 

230.  We  must  now  return  once  more  to  the  southern  point 
of  India.  Before,  however,  continuing  our  wanderings  up  the 
west  coast  within  the  Madras  Presidency,  we  shall  make  an 
excursion  to  the  island  of  Ceylon,  famed  for  its  natural  beauty. 
Its  population  amounts  to  over  3£  millions,  and,  apart  from  the 
Veddahs,  the  small  remnant  of  the  rough  aboriginal  Draviuian 
population,  consists  mainly  of  the  descendants  of  Arab  con- 
querors,— the  Singhalese, — of  immigrant  Tamils,  of  the  offspring 
of  Arab  (Moorish)  traders,  and  all  varieties  of  Portuguese  and 
Dutch  half  -  breeds  (Burghers).  The  predominating  religion 
of  the  country  is  Buddhism,  mingled  with  Brahmanism, 
Nature-  and  Demon-worship,  and  other  crude  superstitions :  its 
chief  sanctuary,  with  the  famous  tooth  of  Buddha,  is  in  Kandy. 


302  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

The  first  work  in  Christianisation  in  Ceylon  dates  as  far 
back  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  having  been 
begun  in  connection  with  the  Portuguese  dominion.  The  Dutch, 
who  a  century  later  drove  out  the  Portuguese,  in  propagating 
Protestantism,  followed  just  the  same  outward  and  mechanical 
method,  supported  by  allurement  and  force,  as  the  Portuguese 
(p.  45).  Hundreds  of  thousands  adopted  a  semblance  of  Chris- 
tianity, which  consisted  mainly  of  the  sprinkling  with  baptis- 
mal water,  partly  in  the  expectation  of  all  manner  of  gain, 
partly  from  fear  of  punishment.  Hardly  any  care  at  all  was 
given  to  the  baptized.  Schools  were  indeed  established,  but 
teachers  were  wanting,  and  but  few  could  read  the  New 
Testament  translated  into  Singhalese.  Of  the  few  colonial 
clergymen,  it  was  seldom  that  one  understood  the  language 
of  the  country.  It  is  little  wonder  that  this  house  built  on 
the  sand  fell  in  ruins  when,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  the  Dutch  dominion  came  to  an  end.  The  English 
Government,  which  dissolved  it,  had  at  that  time  not  the 
slightest  regard  for  mission  work,  and  in  consequence  the 
Ceylonese  took  advantage  of  its  absolute  religious  indifference 
to  shake  off  a  yoke  which  they  had  never  felt  to  be  an  easy 
one.  The  evangelical  missions,  which  pushed  into  the  field  in 
the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century,  had  to  lay  an 
entirely  new  foundation.  After  an  unsuccessful  attempt  on 
the  part  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  work  was  taken  up,  one  after 
another,  by  the  Baptists  from  Serampore,  the  Wesleyans, 
the  American  Board,  the  C.  M.  S.,  and  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  it  is 
still  chiefly  in  their  hands.  They  are  all  very  diligent  in 
school-work,  and  also  carry  on  an  extensive  itinerary,  but  the 
results,  especially  amongst  the  Singhalese,  are  scanty  and  in 
the  last  decades  exhibit  an  unexplained  backset.  While  the 
number  of  evangelical  native  Christians  in  1881  was  given  as 
35,700,  this  number  went  down  in  1890  to  22,500,  and  in  1900 
rose  again  only  to  33,500  (according  to  the  Government  census 
there  were  about  42,000).  The  chief  portion  of  these  (about 
15,000)  belong  to  the  Wesleyans,  the  two  Anglican  missions 
(about  12,000),  and  the  American  Board  (2000  communicants 
with  3500  adherents  not  included  in  the  census).  The  Baptists 
have  only  1050  full  church  members.  Very  much  larger  is 
the  number  of  scholars,  which  mounts  up  in  all  to  fully 
65,000. 

231.  In  the  district  of  Jaffna,  which,  like  the  whole  north- 
western part  of  Ceylon,  has  mainly  a  Tamil  population,  the 
chief  stations  are  Jaffna  (C.  M.  S.  and  W.),  Battikotta  (A.  B.), 
and  Battikaloa  (W.  and  S.  P.  G.).  In  the  central  province  of 
Kaudy,  where,  besides  the  work  among  the  very  superstitious 


"WiAXJdmstaaJranlea.Eainbnr^liAIaadoil 


ASIA  303 

and  ignorant  natives,  an  extensive  mission  is  carried  on  among 
the  numerous  immigrant  Tamil  coolies,  operations  are  con- 
centrated about  Kandy  (C.  M.  S.,  W.,  and  B.),  Matale  (S.  P.  G.), 
Anuradhapura,  Haputala  (C.  M.),  Hatton,  and  Negombo  (W.). 
In  the  numerously  peopled  south  and  south-west  of  Ceylon, 
where  the  Singhalese  population  is  the  chief  object  of  missions, 
operations  cluster  round  the  chief  cities  Galle  (S.  P.  G.,  C.  M., 
and  W.)  and  Colombo  (the  same  and  the  Baptists),  also  about 
Matara  (S.  P.  G.  and  W.),  Baddegama  (C.  M.),  Tangalle  (W.), 
Cotta  (C.  M.),  and  Calutara  (W.  and  S.  P.  G.). 

Since  1845,  Ceylon  has  constituted  a  separate  bishopric  of 
the  Anglican  Church.  The  claims  to  the  leadership  of  the 
mission  made  in  the  Eighties  of  last  century  by  Bishop  Cople- 
stone,  who  belonged  to  the  most  advanced  ritualists,  led  to  a 
sharp  conflict  between  him  and  the  evangelical  C.  M.  S. ;  after 
prolonged  discussions,  a  decision  was  given  by  an  Episcopal 
college  of  umpires  in  England,  which  was  on  the  whole  in 
favour  of  the  Society. 

In  the  most  recent  time,  Buddhism  has  been  stirred  up  to 
an  energetic  reaction  against  Christianity,  and  this  has  laid  a 
new  and  not  inconsiderable  difficulty  in  the  way  of  missions  in 
Ceylon,  which  without  this  had  already  sufficient  hindrances  to 
encounter. 

232.  From  Ceylon  we  shall  turn  again  to  the  south  of  the 
Indian  continent,  on  the  west  or  Malabar  Coast.  There  the 
chief  language  domains  are  those  of  the  Malayalim,  the 
Kanara,  and  the  Marathi,  the  last  of  which  brings  us  within 
the  Bombay  Presidency.  Almost  entirely  in  the  Malayalim 
region  are  the  most  southerly  territories  of  the  west  coast,  the 
two  still  half -independent  kingdoms  of  Travancore  and  Cochin, 
which  are  separated  from  the  southern  Tamil  country  by  the 
Western  Ghats  mountains.  In  these  the  caste-system  and 
the  dominion  of  the  Brahmans  flourish  in  special  strength. 
So  long  ago  as  1806  the  first  evangelical  missionary  entered 
southern  Travancore,  the  pious  and  talented,  though  somewhat 
eccentrically  ascetic,  Bingeltaube,  who  had  been  appointed 
from  Halle  to  the  service  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  and  there  he  laboured 
with  success  for  ten  years.  Through  many  a  struggle  the 
Society  continued  his  work,  with  so  much  success  that  it  has 
gathered  here  around  7  principal  stations  (Nagerevil,  Neyur, 
Trevandrum,  Quilon)  a  Christian  community  of  66,000  (among 
whom,  indeed,  only  9000  are  communicants),  which  for  the 
most  part  is  under  the  care  of  native  pastors  and  teachers. 
Somewhere  about  the  time  of  Bingeltaube,  Chaplain  Buchanan, 
who  is  already  known  to  us,  directed  attention  to  the  old 
Syrian  or  Thomas  Christians, — independent  of   Borne, — who 


304  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

have  their  home  in  Travancore,  and  number  about  248,000 
souls.1  His  Christian  Researches.,  which  awakened  universal 
interest  in  the  Oriental  Christians,  and  a  direct  invitation 
from  Munro,  the  English  Eesident,  so  influenced  the  C.  M.  S., 
that  from  1816  onwards  it  sent  a  succession  of  able  men 
(Baker,  Fenn)  to  Travancore,  in  order  to  quicken  the  Syrian 
Church  from  within,  chiefly  by  the  education  of  pastors  well 
grounded  in  the  Bible.  A  work  in  this  direction  carried  on 
for  twenty  years  produced  the  most  hopeful  results,  till,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  Thirties,  a  new  Metropolitan,  hostile  to 
reform,  put  an  end  to  the  efforts  that  were  being  made; 
despite  this  check,  the  old  seed  bears  fruit  up  to  the  present 
day.  Not  only  did  a  considerable  number  of  awakened  Thomas 
Christians  join  the  native  Christian  congregations,  gathered  by 
the  C.  M.  S.  in  Travancore,  but  there  also  arose  later  a  grow- 
ingly  strong  evangelical  movement  among  those  who  clung  to 
their  own  Church,  and  this  movement  led  to  the  formation  of 
a  reformed  branch  of  the  Thomas  Christians,  embracing  about 
100  congregations,  which  is  under  the  leadership  of  a  Metro- 
politan (Mar  Thoma)  and  two  bishops,  and  uses  the  Bible 
translation  adopted  by  the  London  and  Church  Missions,  as 
well  as  lets  its  clergy  be  trained  in  the  Church  Theological 
School  at  Cottayam.  The  native  mission  in  Travancore,  begun 
by  the  C.  M.  S.  in  1837,  is  grouped  chiefly  in  4  principal 
districts,  Cottayam,  Tiruwella,  Mavelikara,  and  Melkavu,  and 
has  45,000  native  Christians  under  its  care.  Withiu  the 
Melkavu  district  about  Mundakayam  work  is  carried  on,  not 
without  success  (3500  Christians),  amongst  the  mountain  tribe 
of  the  Arrians,  while  in  the  neighbouring  little  state  of  Cochin 
(Trichur)  the  result  is  small  (300  Christians). 

233.  In  Malabar,  which  adjoins  Cochin  on  the  north,  and 
likewise  belongs  to  the  Malayalim  language  region,  we  come 
on  the  most  southerly  part  of  the  Basel  mission  field,  which  is 
of  great  extent  and  includes  many  languages.  Its  first  station, 
Talacheri,  was  occupied  by  Gundert  in  1839 ;  Hebich,  an 
original  man,  passed  over  to  Kannanur  in  1841,  and  Fritz  took 
possession  of  Calicut  in  1842.  Calicut  is  the  most  important 
of  the  Malabar  stations,  and  after  it  comes  Kodakal.  Different 
from  Malabar  in  respect  of  race  and  language  is  the  beautiful 
mountain  region  of  the  Neilgheri  (Blue  Mountains)  in  the 
south-east,  with  Ootakamand,  a  favourite  summer  resort  of  the 
English.  Various  missions  have  also  sanatoria  here  for  workers 
in  need  of  rest.  But  there  are  also  mission  stations.  Besides 
2  Basel  stations,  the  Wesleyans  have  a  few,  and  the  American 

Collins,  •'        ,       '    in  the  East,  with  especial  reference  to  the 

Syrian  Christians  ojWFalabar,  London,  1873.     C.  M.  Intelligencer,  1902,  748. 


ASIA  305 

Eeformed  and  the  C.  M.  S.  have  one  each.  The  native  popu- 
lation of  the  Toda  and  the  Badaga  is,  however,  a  hard  soil: 
the  most  of  the  adherents  of  the  Christian  congregations  there 
(2000  Christians)  are  immigrant  Tamils.  Just  as  difficult  a 
field  is  the  Kurg  country,  north-east  of  Malabar,  which  is 
inhabited  by  the  Kodaga  tribe,  and  contains  2  Basel  stations. 
Malabar  is  bordered  on  the  north  by  Kanara,  which  stretches 
along  the  coast  and  extends  into  the  Bombay  Presidency.  Its 
northern  portion,  with  the  station  Honor,  is,  on  account  of  its 
language,  reckoned  by  the  Basel  Missionary  Society  along  with 
South  Mahratta.  In  the  whole  of  Kanara,  including  Tulu 
Land,  with  its  distinct  language,  this  Society  has  again  7 
stations  (inclusive  of  Honor),  of  which  Mangalore  and  Udapi 
are  the  chief.  The  Basel  mission  field,  however,  extends  still 
farther  north  into  South  Mahratta  Land,  but  the  missionary 
result  at  its  5  chief  stations  there  is  of  the  scantiest  (2100 
Christians).  Altogether  in  its  Indian  mission  field  the  Basel 
Mission  reckons  16,000  baptized  Christians,  and  in  its  splendid 
schools  12,000  pupils  of  both  sexes.  It  is  characteristic  of  this 
mission  that  connected  with  it  is  a  great  mission  industry, — 
weaving,  brick-work,  joiner- work, — which  was  originally  called 
into  being  in  order  to  give  employment  for  Christians  re- 
pudiated by  their  caste  or  otherwise  suffering  from  want,  a 
pattern  which  has  been  followed  to  a  large  extent  in  other 
missions. 

Eastward  of  Kanara,  and  still  within  the  Madras  Presidency, 
lies  the  vassal  State  of  Mysore,  which  is  mostly  in  the  Kanara 
language  domain.  There  London  missionaries  have  long  been 
working  from  Bellary  as  centre,  and  English  and  American 
Methodists  and  the  S.  P.  G-.  are  also  engaged.  The  Leipzig 
Missionary  Society,  too,  has  one  station  in  Bangalore  for 
Tamils.  Altogether  in  Mysore  and  the  Bellary  district,  where 
American  Baptists  are  also  at  work,  there  are  about  30,000 
Christians. 

234.  In  Mahratta  we  find  ourselves  in  the  Bombay 
Presidency,  to  which  North  Kanara  has  already  introduced  us. 
On  the  east," Mahratta  is  bounded  by  a  line  of  dependent  States, 
from  Mysore  in  the  south  across  Hyderabad  to  Eajputana ;  on 
the  west  it  runs  up  the  coast  as  far  as  Gujarat  and  Scinde,  and 
to  the  north-west  it  reaches  as  far  as  Baluchistan.  Besides 
Marathi,  Gujarati  and  Scindi  are  the  chief  languages.  The 
population,  which  is  very  mixed,  even  with  respect  to  religion, 
is  a  rather  unfruitful  soil  for  missions.  The  statistical  result 
(31,000  evangelical  Christians)  is  therefore  as  yet  very  small. 

The  oldest  evangelical  mission  in  Mahratta  is  that  of  the 
American  Board,  which  has  now  G000  communicants,  with 
20 


306  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

14,000  adherents,  gathered  about  8  principal  stations,  including 
Bombay.  From  1820  onwards  they  were  followed  successively 
by  the  C.  M.  S.  (5000  Christians),  the  L.  M.  S.  (only  200 
Christians  at  Belgam  station,  northward  of  Goa),  the  S.  P.  G. 
(5500  Christians),  and  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  (1500 
Christians).  The  region  occupied  by  these  missions  centres 
chiefly  about  Bombay  and  the  district  east  and  south  of  it.  In 
the  city  of  Bombay  itself,  where,  besides  the  Societies  named, 
Baptists  and  Methodists  are  also  at  work,  and  excellent  higher 
schools  are  maintained,  particularly  by  the  United  Free  Church 
of  Scotland  (Wilson),  the  native  Christians,  including  those 
of  the  immediate  neighbourhood,  number  altogether  13,000 
(about  6000  communicants).  Of  the  other  stations,  situated 
to  the  north  and  north-east  of  Bombay,  in  addition  to  Ahmed- 
nagar  and  Nasik,  which  was  formerly  celebrated  for  its  asylum 
for  liberated  East  African  slaves,  Poona  is  worthy  of  special 
mention.  Here  laboured  with  much  blessing  the  former 
Brahman,  Narayan  Sheshadri  (d.  1891),  who  was  converted 
through  Duff,  particularly  along  the  line  of  evangelistic 
activity  among  the  casteless  and  in  founding  the  Christian 
village  of  Bethel ;  and  here  and  in  the  not  far  distant  Kedgaon 
are  situated  the  magnificent  institutions  (Widows  Asylum  and 
Orphan  Asylum)  of  the  already  mentioned  Brahman  widow 
Pandita  Bamabai. — In  Gujarat  the  Irish  Presbyterians  have 
since  1841  been  engaged  in  a  hopeful  work,  which  is  now 
prosecuted  at  10  chief  stations  (Borsad,  Anaud,  Ahmedabad). 
They  have,  however,  as  yet  only  gained  about  3000  Christians 
(  +  3000  adherents),  whom  they  have  also  endeavoured  with 
some  success  to  elevate  both  industrially  and  socially.  Along- 
side of  them  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists  are  also  at 
work,  and  have  gathered  over  7000  Christians  about  9  principal 
stations  (Baroda,  Wasad,  Od) ;  during  the  last  plague  and 
famine  they  took  up  about  3000  orphans,  in  whose  training 
for  practical  life  much  diligence  is  being  expended.  Besides 
these,  the  Alliance  Mission  has  about  1200  Christians  on  5 
stations.  —  Last  of  all,  in  Scinde,  which  ecclesiastically  is 
reckoned  in  the  bishopric  of  Lahore,  there  are  only  3  mission 
stations,  which  belong  to  the  C.  M.  S.  and  the  American 
Episcopal  Methodists,  and  which  all  have  still  but  small  con- 
gregations (400  Christians).  The  majority  of  the  population 
here  is  Mohammedan ;  indeed,  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
Bombay  Presidency,  and  particularly  in  the  dependent  States, 
Mohammedans  are  numerous.  Although  here  and  there  with 
varying  energy  missionary  effort  has  been  directed  towards 
them,  the  result  has  been  only  a  few  isolated  conversions. 

Eastward  of  Gujarat  and  Scinde  lies  Bajputana,  with  its 


ASIA  307 

numerous  small  vassal  States  surrounding  the  British  Ajmere. 
Mission  work  here  is  carried  on  mainly  by  the  United  Free 
Church  of  Scotland x  and  the  American  Episcopal  Methodists, 
and  also  by  the  C.  M.  S.  among  the  hill-people  of  the  Bhils ; 
and  reckons  up  about  4000  Christians. 

235.  Turning  northwards  from  Scinde  and  Eajputana,  we 
reach  the  Punjaub,  or  Land  of  the  Five  Eivers.  Half  of  it 
consists  of  semi-independent  States, — Cashmere  and  35  smaller 
ones, — and  a  great  variety  of  languages  prevails  in  it ;  of  9,  the 
most  important  are  Punjaubi,  Hindi,  Urdu,  and  Pushtu.  Half 
of  the  population  is  Mohammedan ;  Hindus  make  up  the  great 
part  of  the  remainder,  and  there  are  almost  If  millions  of 
Sikhs.  Evangelical  missions  have  been  very  active  here, 
especially  since  the  period  following  the  great  Mutiny;  and 
although  up  to  the  present  the  statistical  result  seems  to  be  but 
small, — about  37,000  Christians, — yet  by  itinerant  preaching, 
as  well  as  by  the  work  of  the  schools  and  the  medical  mission, 
much  good  seed  has  been  scattered  far  and  wide,  which 
promises  a  large  harvest  in  the  future.  There  is  also  much 
diligence  in  labouring  for  the  social  elevation  of  the  Christians. 
The  most  prominent  Christian  in  the  Province,  and  indeed  in 
India,  Sir  Harnam  Singh,  the  Rajah  of  Karpathala,  has  gifted 
£3750  to  the  Christians  of  the  Punjaub  as  a  fund  for  the  pro- 
motion of  handicrafts  and  of  industrial  occupations.  The 
greatest  activity  has  been  shown  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which, 
largely  invited  and  supported  by  pious  Government  officials 
and  officers  (the  two  Lawrences,  Montgomery,  Edwardes, 
Martin),  came  gradually  to  occupy  a  field  as  large  as  it  is 
important  with  a  succession  of  very  able  men, — Clark,  Fitz- 
patrick,  Batty,  Elmslie,  Eidley,  Trumpp,  Hughes,  and  above 
all  French, — and  has  also  organised  its  work  admirably.  Its 
stations  fall  into  the  two  groups  of  the  Central  and  Frontier 
stations.  The  leading  Central  stations  are  Multan,  Amritsar, 
and  Lahore,  the  two  last  being  surrounded  by  a  large  circle 
of  out-stations.  Of  the  Frontier  stations,  which  are  the 
points  of  departure  for  the  Indian  Frontier  countries,  the 
principal  are  Kochur  (once  Prochnow's  station),  with  Simla 
and  Kangra  (on  the  Himalaya),  Srinagar,  in  Cashmere,  Pesha- 
war,  on    the    famed   Khyber    Pass    in   Afghanistan,   Bannu, 

1  [This  mission  was  begun  by  the  United  Presbyterian  Church  in  1859  with 
Williamson  Shoolbred  as  pioneer.  It  has  now  11  principal  stations,  4  of  which 
are  in  British  territory  and  the  rest  in  Native  States.  By  its  medical  mission 
work,  boys'  and  girls'  schools,  and  admirable  Zenana  work,  it  is  exercising  a 
growing  influence.  There  are  1016  communicants,  and  5  ordained  native 
pastors,  supported  by  the  people,  and  several  licentiates.  The  last  famine  has 
left  about  1600  orphans  under  the  care  of  the  mission.  The  solidity  of  the 
work  accomplished  is  generally  recognised.  The  other  two  missions  in  Raj- 
putana  are  very  small. — Ed.] 


308  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Dera  Ismael  Khan,  and  Dera  Ghasi  Khan  in  Baluchistan. 
Of  the  10,700  Christians  gathered  here  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  many- 
are  Mohammedans,  and  one  of  these,  the  learned  Dr.  Imaduddin, 
recently  dead,  exerted  a  great  influence,  especially  through  his 
literary  work.1 

In  the  Southern  Punjaub, — in  Delhi  and  the  surrounding 
district, — in  addition  to  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  Baptists  and  the 
S.  P.  G.  are  at  work ;  and  in  the  east  and  centre,  at  Lodiana  2 
and  Lahore,  the  American  Presbyterians  (Dr.  Newton)  and 
Methodists  and  the  Church  of  Scotland.  These  have  gathered 
at  numerous  stations  altogether  27,000  Christians,  of  whom  the 
great  majority  belong  to  the  Presbyterians. 

In  the  (West)  Himalaya  district  of  Kunawar,  Lahul,  and 
Ladakh,  which  are  still  reckoned  as  part  of  the  Punjaub,  and 
are  subject  to  British  rule  either  directly  or  indirectly,  the 
Moravians  began  work  at  the  end  of  the  Fifties  among  the 
Buddhistic  Tibetan  population.  This  work  was  to  be  the 
starting-point  for  a  mission  in  Tibet  proper,  but  up  till  now 
this  design  has  not  been  realised.  At  the  three  stations  of 
Pu,  Kyelang,  and  Leh,  to  which  a  fourth,  Chini,  is  now  added, 
in  spite  of  the  very  faithful  and  patient  work  of  excellent 
missionaries,  only  small  congregations  with  110  Christians  in 
all  have  as  yet  been  gathered.  Most  excellent  work  has  been 
accomplished  by  Jaschke  in  the  investigation  of  the  language. 
He  and  Kedslob  translated  the  Bible  into  Tibetan. 

236.  South-east  of  the  Punjaub  and  east  of  Kajputana  lie 
the  densely  populated  North- West  Provinces  with  Oudh :  this 
region  is  the  centre  of  Hinduism,  and  contains  its  chief 
sanctuaries ;  it  is  now  known  as  the  United  Provinces  of  Agra 
and  Oudh.  Of  the  58  cities  of  India  which  have  a  population 
of  more  than  60,000,  there  are  here  14,  including  Agra,  Cawn- 
pore,  Lucknow,  Allahabad,  and  Benares.  The  chief  language 
is  Hindi,  but  in  the  towns  Urdu  is  also  much  spoken.  On  the 
whole  the  soil  here  is  a  hard  one  for  missions ;  within  the  last 
ten  years,  however,  the  number  of  Christians  has  increased  con- 
siderably, and  to-day  it  is  some  110,000.  The  way  was  opened 
up  for  the  Gospel  by  various  Government  chaplains,  par- 
ticularly Martyn  and  Corrie,  and  by  individual  Baptists,  but  it 
was  not  till  much  later  that  the  work  was  taken  up  by  the 

1  To  the  Chicago  Congress  of  Religions  Imaduddin  sent  a  paper,  in  which  he 
related  the  history  of  his  own  conversion,  and  gave  the  names  of  some  90 
eminent  Mohammedans  converted  to  Christianity. — "In  memoriam  :  the  Rev. 
Maulvi  Imad-ud-din,"  C.  M.  Intelligencer,  1900,  p.  932.  [Dr.  Imaduddin,  whose 
theological  degree  was  conferred  od  him  l>y  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  died 
in  the  latter  half  of  1900.— Ed.] 

-  From  this  place  was  issued  in  1859  the  invitation  to  the  observance  of  a 
of  universal  prayer  in  the  beginning  of  the  year,  which  is  still  very  widely 
maintained. 


ASIA  309 

missionary  societies,  particularly  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  S.  P.  G., 
the  American  Episcopal  Methodists  and  Presbyterians,  the 
L.  M.  S.,  and  the  English  Baptists.  Of  these  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  (Bishop  Thoburn)  have  in  their  two  principal 
districts  (east  of  the  Ganges  with  Oudh,  and  west  and  south 
of  the  Ganges,  and  including  the  smaller  district  in  Piajputana 
and  the  Central  Provinces)  89,000  communicants  and  cate- 
chumens. At  many  of  their  stations  mass-conversions  have 
taken  place  within  the  last  decade,  but  unfortunately  these  do 
not  seem  to  have  been  preceded  by  any  thorough  instruction. 
It  is  an  elementary  Christianity  of  a  very  low  order  which  is 
found  in  these  masses,  and  even  the  great  zeal  with  which 
labour  is  expended  on  their  Christian  education  and  in  the 
training  of  native  teachers  (Seminary  in  Bareli)  can  only  very 
slowly  effect  a  spiritual  and  moral  uplifting.  According  to  the 
latest  reports,  a  considerable  sifting  has  taken  place.  The 
work  of  the  C.  M.  S.  is  carried  on  in  connection  with  three 
chief  centres :  Agra,  with  which  are  connected  various  stations 
up  along  the  western  frontier  of  the  Province,  where  from 
1840  to  1855  a  great  influence  was  exerted  by  Pfander,  in 
particular  among  the  Mohammedans ;  then  (quite  near  to 
Agra)  Sikandra,  with  its  large  orphanages,  a  village  Zenana 
mission,  and  a  largely  attended  training  institution  for  native 
women  helpers ;  at  Sikandra,  too,  the  lady  missionaries  of  the 
Berlin  Women's  Union  are  at  work;  and  thirdly,  Lucknow, 
in  Oudh  (with  Faisabad),  and  Benares  in  the  south-west  (with 
Allahabad  and  Gorakhpur).  Of  the  work  here,  Smith  and 
Leupolt  were  the  able  pioneers  from  1832  onwards.1  The 
total  number  of  Christians  at  all  the  stations  belonging  to 
these  three  groups  amounts  to  6600.  In  the  city  of  Benares, 
the  capital  of  Brahmanism  and  the  most  frequented  place  of 
pilgrimage,  where  Mrs.  Besant  has  set  up  her  Central  Hindu 
College,  the  3  missionary  societies  at  work  have  only  small 
congregations.  The  fields  of  the  other  missionary  societies, 
which  have  altogether  about  12,000  Christians,  are  partly  in 
the  same  districts  and  partly  in  the  north  of  the  Province,  in 
the  Himalaya  districts  of  Garhwal  (Paori,  Dehra)  and  Kamaon 
(Almora),  in  Eohilkand  (Amroha,  Bareli,  Moradabad),  in  the 
Duab  plain  (Farakhabad),  and  in  the  Benares  district.  There 
is  here  also  the  Ganges  field  of  the  Gossner  Mission  (to  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  its  Kols  Mission),  which,  however, 
with  several  of  its  stations,  penetrates  into  the  Province  of 
Bengal.  But  in  spite  of  faithful  work  done  by  zealous  mission- 
aries,— by  Ribbentrop  in  Chapra  and  Ziemann  in  Ghasipur, — 

:  Leupolt,    Recollections  of   an    Indian    Missionary,    London,    1862 ;    and 
Further  Recollections,  1884. 


310  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

no  real  success  has  as  yet  been  attained.  The  congregations 
move  rather  backward  than  forward.  The  adjacent  mission 
of  the  English  Baptists  at  Patna,  which  likewise  belongs  to 
Bengal  (Bihar),  is  also  rather  unfruitful. 

237.  To  the  south  of  the  North-West  Provinces  lie  the 
Central  Provinces,  with  Berar.  Distinct  from  these,  and 
situated  between  the  two,  are  the  vassal  States  south-east  of 
Eajputana  (Gwalior,  Indore,  etc.),  which  form  the  Central  Indian 
Agency.  In  the  latter  the  only  workers  are  American  and 
Canadian  Presbyterians  and  an  Anglican  High  Church  brother- 
hood ;  their  activity  is  limited  to  a  few  stations,  and  only  in 
recent  times  has  it  begun  to  show  some  result.  In  the  British 
territory  there  is  a  considerable  variety  of  languages :  in  the 
north  Hindi  is  spoken,  in  the  east  Uriya,  in  the  west  Marathi, 
in  the  south  Telugu,  and  Gondi  and  Kurku  are  used  by 
the  Dravidian  hill-tribes.  Of  all  the  Provinces  of  India,  the 
Central  Provinces  have  until  the  last  census  afforded  the  least 
entrance  to  Christianity;  even  yet  the  number  (27,000)  is 
small,  although  it  is  more  than  double  what  it  was  ten  years 
ago.  The  field  of  the  C.  M.  S.  here  centres  around  Jabalbur 
and  at  Mandla,  from  which  a  mission  has  been  commenced 
among  the  Gondhs  (about  1000  Christians).  There  are  also 
to  be  found  here  missionaries  of  the  United  Free  Church  of 
Scotland  (Nagpur,1  Hislop  College),  the  Swedish  Fatherland 
Institution  (Sagar,  1000  Christians),  the  Anglican  Cowley 
Brotherhood  (Chanda),  and,  most  successful  of  all,  the  German 
Evangelical  Synod  of  North  America,  with  about  5000  Chris- 
tians (Bisrampur).  There  are  also  Episcopal  Methodists  (4000 
Christians),  Quakers  (2000  Christians,  Hashangabad  with  in- 
dustrial institutions),  Disciples  of  Christ  (Mangeli,  about  800 
Christians),  the  Alliance  Mission  in  Berar,  with  about  1000 
Christians,  and,  besides  some  other  small  missions,  the  Kurku 
and  Central  Indian  Hill  Mission  (Ellichpur)  developed  out  of 
a  union  of  independent  missionaries  (Norton). 

238.  On  the  east  of  the  North-West  Provinces  and  on  the 
north-east  of  the  Central  Provinces  lies  Bengal.  It  extends 
northward  to  the  Himalaya,  eastward  as  far  as  Assam,  south- 
ward to  the  Brahmaputra  and  the  Ganges  delta,  and  to  the 
Madras  Presidency.  It  is  the  largest  and  most  populous  Pro- 
vince of  India,  having  78  million  inhabitants,  and  makes  up 
in  itself  alone  a  respectable  empire.  About  the  half  of  the 
population  speak  Bengali ;  of  the  other  half  the  great  majority 
speak  Hindi ;  the  remainder  speak  Uriya  and  various  Kolarian 
dialects.     There  are  46  millions  of  Hindus  and  25  millions 

1  To  lie  distinguished  from  Chota  Nagpur,  the  seat  oi'  the  Gossner  Mission 
in  Bengal. 


ASIA  311 

of  Mohammedans;  the  rest  are  demon-worshippers.  The 
non-Aryan  element  forms  a  considerable  proportion  of  the 
population. 

Pioneer  work  was  done  in  Calcutta  by  isolated  missionaries, 
— by  Kiernander  of  Halle  (1758)  and  some  of  the  chaplains 
already  referred  to, — and  then  the  "  Serampore  Trio,"  Carey, 
Marshman,  and  Ward,  began  evangelical  missions  in  Bengal. 
The  Baptists  were  followed  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  S.  P.  G.,  the 
L.  M.  S.  (Lacroix),  the  Scottish  Established  and  Free  Churches, 
the  Gossner  Mission,  the  Indian  Home  Mission  (to  the  San- 
thals),  and  various  other  Baptist  and  Methodist  societies. 
Altogether  Bengal  has  at  present  about  160,000  evangelical 
Christians,  of  whom  the  main  body  belong  to  the  Kols  (82,000) 
and  the  Santhals  (19,000). 

We  shall  pass  over  the  southern  tributary  States  (Orissa), 
with  the  sanctuary  of  Jaganath,  the  "  Lord  of  the  World,"  at 
Puri;  in  these,  besides  the  Schleswig-Holstein  M.  S.,  two 
Baptist  missions  in  particular  are  prosecuting  at  5  stations 
(Katak,  Midnapur)  a  solid  and  not  unsuccessful  work  (about 
7000  Christians),  which  extends  even  into  the  territory  of  the 
wild  Khonds,  who  offer  human  sacrifices.  Let  us  turn  at  once 
to  the  much-blessed  Gossner  Kols  Mission,  the  field  of  which 
lies  mainly  in  Chota  Nagpur.  In  1850,  five  years  after  the 
beginning  of  the  mission,  a  Christian  movement  began  to 
spread  from  Banchi,  the  present  central  station.  It  was  mingled 
with  national  and  social  endeavours,  and  gained  an  ever- 
widening  influence.  Many  mistakes  were  made  by  mission- 
aries and  the  missionary  directorate.  A  harmful  division  was 
brought  into  the  country  by  the  S.  P.  G.  A  Jesuit  counter- 
mission  was  forced  ahead  without  much  scruple  as  to  the 
means  employed  in  conversion.1  The  Hindu  landowners  were 
hostile,  and  the  Sardars  stirred  up  commotions  by  inciting 
both  Christians  and  heathen  'against  the  missionaries,  because 
they  did  not  agree  to  their  immoderate  and  imprudent  demands. 
A  temporary  confusion  was  occasioned  by  the  appearing  of  a 
false  Messiah  (Birsa).  In  spite  of  all  these  hindrances,  how- 
ever, the  movement  could  not  be  suppressed,  although  it  passed 
through  critical  times  and  once  and  again  was  checked.  Since 
the  latter  part  of  the  last  decade  of  last  century  the  Gossner 
Mission  has  taken  a  new  start  of  great  importance,  not  only 
in   the   region   of    the   old   stations   Banchi,  Govindpur,  and 

1  Twenty  years  ago,  in  the  high  tide  of  this  Jesuit  mission,  when  within  a  few 
days  10,000  heathen  were  baptized  without  any  preparation,  it  was  boasted 
that  there  were  more  than  90,000  Catholic  Kols;  now  the  Catholic  sources  of 
information  reduce  this  number  to  33,155,  of  whom  27,719  are  baptized  and 
5436  are  catechumens.  For  1903,  after  a  resumption  of  work  at  high  pressure, 
there  are  reported  47,675  Roman  Catholic  Kols,  and  31,985  catechumens. 


312  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Takarma,  and  in  the  long  neglected  districts  west  of  Chota 
Nagpur  (Gumla,  Jainpur),  but  also  in  the  south  and  south- 
west of  what  had  been  their  field  hitherto,  especially  in  the 
province  of  Biru  and  the  neighbouring  districts,  whither  a  large 
number  of  Kols  had  emigrated,  who  were  the  more  open  to 
embrace  Christianity  because  of  the  oppression  under  which 
they  had  suffered  and  their  removal  from  their  domestic 
shrines.  Especially  around  the  stations  of  Khukitoli,  Kinkel, 
and  Rajgangpur,  thousands  of  candidates  for  baptism  gathered, 
whose  Christian  training  made  and  still  makes  great  demands 
upon  the  energies  and  wisdom  of  the  missionaries  and  their 
native  assistants ;  the  more  so  that  just  here  the  rivalry  of  the 
Jesuits  is  putting  forth  its  most  strenuous  efforts  to  outstrip 
the  Gossner  Mission.  In  1903  the  total  number  of  Christians 
under  the  care  of  the  mission,  inclusive  of  23,000  candidates 
for  baptism,  was  83,000.  A  work  of  blessing  is  also  being 
accomplished  by  the  Grossner  Mission  in  the  Leper  Asylum 
established  at  its  eastern  station  Purulia,  the  largest  and  best- 
equipped  in  all  India.  Finally,  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
since  1901  the  Gossner  Mission  has  founded  one  station  and 
designed  a  second  in  Upper  Assam  for  the  care  of  the  Chris- 
tians (about  4000)  who  have  emigrated  thither. — The  English 
S.  P.  G.,  with  which  the  Dublin  Brotherhood  has  now  become 
associated,  has  concentrated  its  work  principally  about  the 
districts  of  Ranchi  (seat  of  the  bishop),  Hasaribag  and  Jaibassa, 
and  numbers  now  15,500  Christians.  After  a  period  of  very 
unpleasant  rivalry,  a  tolerable  modus  vivendi  between  it  and 
the  Gossner  Mission  seems  to  have  been  attained. 

239.  Evangelical  missions  have  also  been  conducted  with 
success  in  Santhalistan,  which  lies  to  the  north-east  of  Chota 
Nagpur,  and  which  is  likewise  inhabited  by  Kolarian  tribes. 
It  was  a  terrible  insurrection  of  these  sorely  oppressed  tribes, 
which  had  in  vain  sought  help  against  their  oppressors,  that 
attracted  public  attention  to  them  and  occasioned  the 
beginning  of  a  mission  among  them  in  1860.  The  lead  was 
taken  by  the  C.  M.  S.,  which  had  already  initiated  a  mission 
in  1850  among  a  kindred  Dravidian  hill-people,  the  Pahari,  who 
inhabit  the  Rajmahal  mountains ;  this  Pahari  mission  had  its 
point  of  departure  (under  Missionary  Drose)  in  Bhagalpur, 
which  is,  however,  situated  in  Bihar,  but  it  only  in  small 
measure  fulfilled  the  hopes  which  were  built  on  it.  Of  the  6 
Santhal  stations  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  with  4300  Christians,  the 
most  important  are  Taljhari,  Barhawa,  and  Santalpur.  Then 
the  Indian  Home  Mission,  founded  by  the  two  active  Scandi- 
navians, Bbrresen  and  Skrefsrud,  followed  in  1867 ;  with  its 
12,000  Christians,  already  in  a  considerable  degree  educated  to 


ASIA  313 

independent  activity,  it  forms  the  real  centre  of  the  Santhal 
mission;  its  chief  station  is  Ebenezer.  In  loose  connection 
with  it,  a  number  of  independent  missionaries  (Haegert)  are  at 
work  at  various  stations  (Bethel),  and  around  these  at  least 
another  1500  Santhal  Christians  have  been  gathered.  In 
addition,  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  entered  the  field  in  1871, 
and  it  numbers  about  800  Christians  at  4  stations  (Pachamba). 
Some  other  small  missionary  beginnings  may  be  passed  over. 

Apart  from  these  mountain  districts,  the  chief  mission 
centre  is  the  capital  of  the  Province  with  its  outlying  environs. 
Calcutta,  situated  on  the  Hoogli,  the  greatest  western  arm  of 
the  Ganges,  has  a  population  of  a  million  of  a  very  mixed 
character  in  every  respect.  Nine  missionary  societies  are  at 
work  in  the  town  itself  and  its  suburbs :  three  Anglican 
(C.  M.  S.,  S.  P.  G.,  and  the  Oxford  M.),  the  two  Scottish,  the 
English  Baptist,  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  English  and  American 
Methodists ;  in  a  goodly  number  of  flourishing  educational 
institutions,  among  those  of  the  C.  M.  S.  and  the  L.  M.  S.  are 
of  special  prominence  beside  the  Scottish,  13,000  male  and 
female  pupils  receive  instruction ;  there  is  zeal  in  preaching ; 
endeavours  are  made  to  bring  the  Gospel  before  the  educated 
classes  by  lectures ;  and  Zenana  Mission  work  is  in  extensive 
operation — nevertheless  in  the  city  itself  the  native  Christians 
only  number  5500  (2500  communicants),  to  whom  there  are 
to  be  added  15,700  (4700  communicants)  in  the  surrounding 
district.  In  all  the  great  cities  of  India,  despite  the  great 
amount  of  missionary  work  done  in  them,  the  results  are 
everywhere  meagre,  although  the  Christianising  influence  goes 
far  beyond  them. 

Prom  Calcutta  the  mission  field  extends  on  all  sides,  south- 
ward across  the  rice  plain,  with  its  numerous  canals,  as  far  as 
the  Sunderbunds,  eastward  and  northward  to  the  Ganges,  and 
westward  nearly  to  Chota  Nagpur.  It  is  covered  over  with  a 
large  number  of  congregations,  which  are,  however,  for  the  most 
part  not  large.  The  largest  of  them  are  those  of  the  English 
Baptists  in  Barisal  and  Madripur  on  the  Ganges  estuary,  and 
in  the  Krishnagarh  or  Nadiya  district  of  the  C.  M.  S.,  to  the 
north  of  Calcutta  and  about  half-way  between  it  and  the 
Ganges.  In  this  last-named  district  there  were  mass-conver- 
sions to  Christianity  half  a  century  ago,  but  these  were  the 
source  of  more  care  than  joy,  owing  to  the  caste  wranglings 
and  Jesuitical  intrigues  which  followed.  East  of  this  district 
lies  Bardwan,  Weitbrecht's x  station,  once  much  talked  of,  but 
now  unfortunately  for  some  time  in  a  retrograde  condition. 

Lastly,  we  must  look  at  the  East  Himalaya  Mission  of  the 

1  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  J.  J.  Weitbrccht,  by  his  Widow,  London,  1873. 


314  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Established  Church  of  Scotland  in  the  Sikkim  region,  which  is 
as  romantic  as  it  is  solid.  It  has  two  branches, — Darjeeling 
and  Kalimpong, — and  its  work  is  chiefly  among  the  hill-tribes 
of  the  Lepcha,  G-urkha,  and  Bhutia.  In  conjunction  with  an 
independent  Scottish  Universities  mission,  it  has  gathered 
over  3400  Christians  and  as  many  scholars  in  its  primary 
schools.1 

239a.  Especially  from  the  East  Himalaya  district  most 
wistful  glances  have  for  years  been  cast  by  the  heralds  of  the 
Christian  faith  upon  the  hitherto  most  rigidly  closed  land  on 
the  earth,  the  Buddhist  land  of  Tibet.  Not,  it  is  true,  from 
this  district  alone.  In  their  West  Himalaya  Mission  the 
Moravian  Brethren  have  for  half  a  century  maintained  their 
outposts  on  the  Tibetan  frontier ;  so  also  for  some  years  on 
the  east  the  China  Inland  Mission  has  had  its  stations  in 
the  Chinese  provinces  of  Kansee  and  S'schuen ;  in  the  south 
the  London  Missionary  Society  at  Almora  and  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  at  Garhwal  in  the  United  Provinces,  and  quite 
recently  the  American  Baptists  at  Assam.  But  the  most 
direct  preparation  for  a  mission  to  Tibet  has  been  that  by 
Miss  Taylor  since  1894,  and  by  the  Scandinavian  Alliance 
Mission  from  Darjeerling  as  its  base,  and  that  from  China  by 
the  independent  missionaries,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kijnhard,  who  pene- 
trated almost  to  Lhassa.  The  treaty  concluded  in  1903  between 
Bussia  and  Tibet,  which  stipulated  for  religious  liberty  ex- 
clusively to  the  Bussian  Orthodox  Church,  seemed  to  nullify 
all  hope  for  evangelical  missions.  Meanwhile  England,  by  its 
successful  expedition,  has  become  master  of  the  situation,  and 
probably  it  will  not  now  be  long  before  evangelical  missions 
make  their  entrance  into  the  opened  land  of  Tibet. 

240.  The  province  of  Assam  forms  the  connection  between 
Nearer  and  Further  India.  Its  population  contains  Indian  and 
Indo-Chinese  elements  mingled  together,  and  it  is  always 
becoming  more  mixed  by  continued  immigration,  especially  of 
labourers  (coolies)  for  the  tea  plantations.  The  Assamese  proper 
have  mostly  become  Hindus,  but  the  wild  hill-peoples  (Garo, 
Naga,  Khasi)  belong  to  the  demon-worshippers,  who  still  to 
some  extent  offer  human  sacrifices.  And  yet  it  is  just  among 
these  peoples  that  the  Assam  missions  have  gained  their  chief 
success.  They  are  conducted  mainly  by  the  American  Baptist 
Union,  the  S.  P.  G.,  and  the  Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist 
Church.  The  American  Baptists,  who  were  first  in  the  field, 
labour,  indeed,  also  among  the  Assamese,  their  oldest  station 
being  Sibsagar,  but  their  chief  field  embraces  the  Garo,  with 

1  Graham,  On  the  Threshold  of  Three  Closed  Lands  {Tibet,  Nepal,  Bhotari), 
Edinburgh,  1S97. 


ASIA  315 

Tura  as  chief  station,  while  amongst  the  Naga  they  have  as 
yet  achieved  little  success.  Altogether  they  have  gathered  at 
12  stations  7500  baptized  adults  with  6300  adherents.  The 
S.  P.  G-.,  apart  from  its  converts  among  the  Assamese  (at 
Tezpur),  has  4  stations  among  the  Kachari  (Attabari),  with 
2400  Christians  in  its  care.  More  important  is  the  mission  of 
the  Welsh  Methodists  among  the  Khasi;  at  15  stations,  of 
which  Shillong  is  the  chief,  there  are  11,000  Christians.1  If 
we  add  what  these  and  some  other  societies  do  for  the  im- 
migrant Kols  and  Santhals,  of  whom  about  6000  are  Christians, 
we  may  estimate  the  total  statistical  result  of  evangelical 
missions  in  Assam  at  28,000  evangelical  Christians. 

241.  Finally,  with  Burma,  which  lies  beyond  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Assam  and  has  10|  millions  of  inhabitants,  we 
reach  the  last  Province  of  the  great  Indo-Britannic  empire. 
It  falls  into  the  two  principal  districts  of  Upper  and  Lower 
Burma:  the  former,  with  its  capital  Mandaleh,  came  under 
British  dominion  only  in  1885 ;  the  latter,  with  its  capital 
Eangoon,  has  been  British  since  1826.  The  Burmans,  who 
constitute  the  main  body  of  the  population,  are  adherents  of  a 
Buddhism  which  is  sunk  in  dead  forms.  They  are  mixed  to  a 
very  great  degree  with  Tamils,  Telugu,  Bengalese,  and  coolies 
from  other  parts  of  India,  and  even  with  Mohammedans.  The 
various  uncivilised  tribes — mostly  hill-tribes — especially  the 
Karens,  Shan,  and  Kachin,  practise  demon-worship. 

Evangelical  missions  established  themselves  first  in  Lower 
Burma.  Judson  settled  here  in  Eangoon,  when  expelled  from 
Calcutta  in  1813,  and  from  this  place  he  gave  the  impulse 
to  the  founding  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Society 
(A.  B.  M.  U.,  par.  76),  which  has  now  43,600  members,  with 
93,000  adherents,  in  Burma.  When  Judson  was  driven  from 
Eangoon  by  the  war,  which  caused  him  the  keenest  suffering,  the 

1  In  proof  of  there  being  among  these  Christians  of  the  Khasia  Mountains 
some  to  whom  their  Christianity  is  dear,  there  may  be  quoted  the  testimony 
which  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal,  Sir  Charles  Elliott,  recently  bore  in 
reply  to  the  prejudiced  critics  of  missions:  "I  remember  the  very  interesting 
case  of  a  ruler  of  a  small  independent  kingdom  in  the  Khasia  Mountains.  The 
heir  to  this  principality  was  converted  in  his  youth  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  admirable  missionaries  from  Wales,  who  have  occupied  the  Khasia  Moun- 
tains in  Assam.  His  wife  was  also  a  Christian.  When  the  old  prince  died,  the 
people  came  to  him  and  said  :  '  We  will  gladly  have  you,  but  we  can  on  no 
account  allow  you  to  undertake  the  government  as  long  as  you  are  a  Christian. 
There  are  sacrifices  to  be  offered  to  all  our  gods,  else  they  would  without  doubt 
send  all  sorts  of  plagues  amongst  us,  kill  our  children,  and  destroy  our  harvests, 
if  they  were  not  appeased,  and  as  a  Christian  you  are  not  in  a  position  to  offer 
those  sacrifices.  Give  up  your  Christianity,  and  we  will  receive  you  with  open 
arms.'  But  he  steadfastly  refused  to  entertain  their  proposal.  He  remained 
faithful  to  Christianity,  and  surrendered  the  highest  position  and  the  highest 
rank  to  which  a  native  in  that  rearion  could  attain," 


316  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

mission  was  in  1827  transferred  to  Mouhnein,  and  in  the  follow- 
ing year  a  station  was  established  in  Tavoy,  which  lies  still  farther 
south,  and  from  it  the  successful  Karen  mission  took  its  start. 
A  kind  of  Messianic  hope,  based  on  old  traditions,  made  ready 
a  fruitful  soil  for  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  here,  and  eminent 
missionaries — in  addition  to  Judson,  Boardman,  Wade,  Mason 
— as  well  as  native  preachers,  who  gave  their  testimony  with 
great  power — Kothabyu  and  Sa  Quala — opened  paths  for  it 
far  and  wide.  The  congregations  have  been  so  practically  and 
energetically  trained  in  the  way  of  self-support,1  that  they  now 
contribute  £17,500  ($84,000)  yearly  for  the  needs  of  church 
and  school.  The  nation  has  also  been  considerably  elevated 
industrially  by  means  of  industrial  schools.  There  have,  indeed, 
been  many  crises.  Mrs.  Mason  caused  much  confusion  by 
teaching  old  heresies ;  and,  becoming  herself  an  Anglican,  she 
drew  the  S.  P.  G.  into  the  Baptist  mission.  The  S.  P.  G. 
entered  Burma  in  1859  by  establishing  Christian  schools  in 
Moulmein,  and  at  a  later  time  at  Eangoon,  which  were  brought, 
under  the  capable  Dr.  Marks,  into  vigorous  operation.  From 
this  school  work  there  was  soon  developed  a  mission  which 
increased  more  and  more  in  extent,  especially  after  Eangoon 
became  the  seat  of  a  bishop  in  1877 ;  this  mission  took  in  the 
Karens  as  well.  Now  over  10,000  Christians  belong  to  the 
Anglican  Burma  mission.  A  strict  separation  between  the 
Burman  and  the  Karen  missions  cannot  be  maintained,  neither 
as  respects  the  Baptists  nor  the  Anglicans,  since  the  Burman 
stations  for  the  most  part  comprise  larger  or  smaller  Karen 
congregations,  and  often  both  missions  have  the  same  centres. 
We  must  therefore  content  ourselves  with  giving  the  chief 
stations.  Besides  those  already  named,  Tavoy,  Moulmein,  and 
Eangoon,  where  the  Leipzig  Mission  has  also  a  small  Tamil 
congregation,  there  are  Bassein,  Henthada,  Taungu,  Schwegjin, 
and  Prome. 

242.  In  Upper  Burma  all  mission  work  was  forbidden  till 
the  Fifties.  In  1868,  Dr.  Marks,  who  has  been  already  men- 
tioned, was,  by  the  favour  of  the  King  of  Burma,  then  still 
independent,  allowed  to  establish  a  Christian  school  and 
church  in  Mandaleh,  and  he  was  even  entrusted  with  the 
education  of  Theebaw,  the  heir  to  the  throne.  But  favour 
passed  into  disfavour,  when  the  missionary  did  not  bring  about 
the  political  advantages  which  the  King  had  hoped  for.  And 
when  Theebaw  ascended  the  throne  in  1878,  he  not  only 
disappointed  the  hopes  which  had  been  formed  of  him,  but  he 
even  carried  on  such  a  reign  of  terror  that  England  waged 

1  Carpenter,   Self-suppt  rt  illustrated  in  the  History  of  the  Bassein  Karen 
Missionfrom  1840  to  18S0,  Boston,  1883. 


ASIA  317 

war  on  him,  and,  after  deposing  him,  annexed  his  kingdom. 
Since  then  missions  have  had  free  course  in  Upper  Burma, 
but  up  till  now  the  results  attained  by  both  Baptists  and 
Anglicans,  and  by  the  Wesleyans,  who  entered  later  (1887) 
among  the  Burmans,  as  among  the  Shan  and  Kachin,  have 
been  but  meagre.  The  most  northerly  of  the  stations  there  is 
Bhamo,  which  is  the  entrance  gate  to  China. 

On  the  Andaman  and  Nicobar  groups  of  islands,  lying  off 
the  west  coast  of  Burma,  beyond  isolated  missionary  attempts, 
nothing  has  been  done.  For  a  time — from  1768  to  1787 — the 
Moravians  carried  on  a  mission  in  the  Nicobars  which  called 
for  much  sacrifice. 


Section  2.  Non-Bkitish  Further  India 

243.  In  non-British  Further  India  evangelical  missions  are 
to  be  found  only  in  Siam  and  on  the  long  Malay  peninsula 
(Malacca).  The  remaining  portion  (Indo-China),  which  is 
almost  entirely  under  French  rule,  is  exclusively  a  Catholic 
mission  field.  In  Siam,  to  which  Laos  now  belongs,  the 
population,  estimated  at  from  10  to  12  millions,  is  again  a 
very  mixed  one.  It  is  made  up  of  the  Siamese  proper  (Thai), 
of  the  Laos,  a  kindred  race, — both  of  these  belonging  to  the 
Shan  family  and  speaking  a  monosyllabic  speech  like  the 
Chinese, — and,  for  the  rest,  mainly  of  Burmans,  Chinese,  and 
Malays.  The  chief  religion  is  a  purely  ceremonial  Buddhism, 
mixed  with  all  sorts  of  fetich  worship,  and  among  the  Laos  a 
belief  in  spirits  prevails.  Giitzlaff  laboured  here  temporarily 
among  Chinese  settlers,  and  some  influential  missionaries  of 
the  American  Board  (Dr.  Bradley  and  Jesse  Carswell)  were 
also  engaged  in  work  for  a  time.  But  only  the  North  American 
Presbyterians  have  since  1840  succeeded  in  establishing  an 
enduring  and  to  some  extent  important  mission.  In  Siam 
itself  the  school-work  of  the  mission  is  valued  by  the  King, 
who,  though  in  other  respects  a  despot,  is  favourable  to  Western 
civilisation,  and  here  there  are  about  1000  Christians  at  5 
chief  stations,  of  which  the  central  one  is  in  Bangkok,  the 
capital.  The  result  in  Laos  is  more  considerable.  Although 
the  mission  here  is  more  recent,  dating  from  1867,  there  have 
been  gathered,  after  a  period  of  cruel  persecution,  perhaps  fully 
5000  Christians  (2500  communicants)  in  connection  with  5 
stations,  of  which  Chieng  Mai  is  the  chief.  The  greater  success 
is  to  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  Buddhism,  with  its  greater 
power  of  resistance,  has  not  here  to  be  dealt  with.  Much 
solid  work  is  to  be  found  in  this  mission ;  it  devotes  as  much 


3l8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

attention  to  itinerant  evangelisation  as  to  the  schools  and 
medical  work,  and  there  appears  to  be  a  hopeful  prospect  of 
extension. 

In  Malacca,  faithful  work,  especially  school  work,  is  done 
for  the  most  part  among  Chinese,  at  various  points  in  the 
island  of  Pulo-Penang  and  in  the  British  Straits  Settlements, 
the  capital  of  which,  Singapore,  is  the  seat  of  an  Anglican 
bishop.  The  workers  are  partly  independent  missionaries  and 
partly  representatives  of  the  English  Presbyterians,  American 
Episcopal  Methodists,  and  the  S.  P.  G.  The  statistical  result 
is  meanwhile  not  considerable,  there  being  about  2000  widely 
scattered  Christians. 

Appendix  to  Sections  1  and  2.  Roman  Catholic  Missions  in  India 

Catholic  missions  began  in  India  immediately  after  the  Portuguese 
gained  a  footing  there  in  the  end  of  the  15th  and  the  beginning  of  the 
16th  century.  To  begin  with,  they  were  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the 
Franciscans  and  a  few  Dominicans.  Goa,  the  headquarters  of  the  Portu- 
guese Government,  became  the  centre  of  operations ;  it  was  raised  to  a 
Bishopric  in  1534,  and  to  an  Archbishopric  in  1557,  and  the  whole  of  the 
territory  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  China  was  placed  under  its 
jurisdiction.  The  right  of  patronage  was  characteristically  transferred  to 
the  King  of  Portugal,  and  that  in  respect  of  "  the  entirety  of  this  enormous 
diocese  pure  et  simpliciter  whether  the  countries  within  it  were  under 
Portuguese  dominion  or  not."  The  relinquishing  of  this  right  to  the 
crown  of  Portugal,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  the  support  of  the  mission  by 
means  of  State  funds  and  State  protection,  proved  in  the  long  run  to  be  a 
very  disastrous  proceeding.  For  a  long  time  all  went  well ;  but  when 
Portuguese  power  in  India  began  to  decline  and  no  longer  fulfilled  the 
obligations  of  patronage,  when  episcopal  sees  remained  unfilled,  a  lack  of 
priests  set  in,  and  congregations  were  neglected,  and  Rome  had  therefore 
to  take  independent  action  in  appointing  apostolic  vicars,  there  ensued 
a  prolonged  struggle,  fertile  in  ecclesiastical  scandals,  which  finally  issued 
in  hostile  schism,  only  healed  with  much  difficulty  by  a  new  concordat 
in  1886.  Goa  was  raised  to  a  Patriarchate  with  three  suffragan  bishop- 
rics :  Cochin,  Damao,  and  Meliapur.  Moreover,  the  King  of  Portugal 
retained  the  patronage  of  the  Bishoprics  of  Bombay,  Mangalore,  Quilon, 
and  Madura.  For  the  rest  the  Pope  received  a  free  hand  to  establish  the 
Roman  hierarchy  in  India. 

When  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  began  work  in  India,  they  found 
in  Cochin  and  Travancore,  where  they  soon  gained  a  footing,  the  already 
mentioned  "  Thomas  Christians,"  and  they  endeavoured,  to  some  extent  by 
very  unedifying  methods,  to  convert  them  from  their  Nestorian  error,  and 
by  dissociating  them  from  the  Patriarchate  of  Babylon,  under  which  they 
then  were,  to  bring  them  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Pope.  They 
eventually  succeeded  in  doing  so  towards  the  close  of  the  16th  century. 
When,  however,  the  Dutch  overcame  the  Portuguese  about  the  middle  of 
the  17th  century,  many  of  the  Romanised  "Thomas  Christians"  refused 
further  obedience  to  the  Pope,  entered  into  negotiations  with  the  Jacobite 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and,  in  order  to  remain  independent  of  Rome, 
became  as  Jacobite  outwardly  as  they  had  formerly  been  Nestorian.  As 
I  have  already  said,  there  are  to-day  as  many  as  248,000  of  these  Thomas 


ASIA  319 

Christians  or  Syrians,  who  are  independent  of  Rome,  whereas  315,000  are 
said  to  have  remained  adherents  of  Kome. 

As  to  the  results  of  Catholic  missions  in  India  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Jesuits,  we  can  give  no  reliable  statistics.  Numerically  they  may 
not  have  been  inconsiderable.  When  Goa  became  an  archbishopric,  that 
is  in  1557,  there  are  said  to  have  been  already  300,000  Christians  within 
the  diocese  ;  of  course  that  was  15  years  after  the  arrival  of  Xavier.  But 
if  20,000  Paravians  on  the  coast  were  baptized  in  one  day  because  the 
Portuguese  had  helped  them  to  overcome  their  Mohammedan  enemies, 
such  increase  was  of  course,  in  respect  of  quality,  without  value. 

The  second  period  of  Catholic  missions  in  India  begins  with  the 
arrival  of  Xavier  in  1542.  The  many  wonders  told  of  him  certainly 
belong  to  the  region  of  legend,  as  also  the  hundreds  of  thousands  which  he 
is  said  to  have  converted  ;  it  is,  moreover,  contrary  to  Xavier's  own  saying 
that  he,  as  Janssen  asserts,  "carried  on  his  mission  with  Cross  and 
Breviary  alone."  But  his  burning  love  for  God  and  men,  his  devoted 
zeal,  his  true  humility,  and  the  powerful  impulse  which  he  gave  to  the 
work  of  spreading  Christianity,  as  much  by  his  inspiring  words  as  by  his 
example  inducing  to  imitation — these  make  him  a  veritable  giant  in  the 
history  of  Christian  missions.  With  interruptions,  his  own  stay  in  India 
lasted  but  10  years,  and  its  direct  results  were  very  moderate,  at  all  events 
not  nearly  so  abundant  as  the  panegyrics  about  him  would  have  us  believe  ; 
but  he  formed  the  starting-point  for  extensive  Catholic  missionary  activity 
— principally  though  not  entirely  under  the  Jesuits — which  soon  stretched 
far  beyond  India. 

In  India  it  was  confined  in  the  first  instance  almost  exclusively  to  the 
territories  under  Portuguese  influence,  to  Goa  with  its  nearer  and  further 
environs,  particularly  in  the  wide  districts  of  Southern  India,  and  con- 
versions, though  fostered  by  the  Portuguese  power,  did  not  take  place  in 
any  but  the  lower  castes.  Then  in  1606  Robert  de  Nobili  appeared  in 
Madura  with  quite  a  new  missionary  method,  by  which  he  hoped  to  win 
the  Brahmans  for  Christianity.  He  gave  himself  out  to  be  a  Brahman, 
lived  entirely  as  such,  adopted  the  marks  of  a  Brahman,  separated  himself 
from  his  fellows  who  were  working  among  the  lower  castes,  built  up  a 
separate  Brahman  Church,  and  founded  a  Brahman  community  apart  from 
the  rest  of  Christendom — in  short,  he  "  preserved  caste  distinctions  in  all 
their  rigour."  This  method,  which,  acccording  to  the  upholders  of  de 
Nobili,  "  resulted  in  more  than  100,000  conversions," *  was  the  source  of 

1  Even  Mullbauer,  however,  who  makes  every  possible  excuse  for  de  Nobili 
(cf.  Geschichte  der  katholischen  Mission  in  Ost-Indien  von  der  Zeit  Vasco  da 
Gama  bis  zur  Mitte  des  lS-Jahrhunderts,  Freiburg,  1852,  p.  210),  finds  himself 
obliged  to  make  this  remark  against  him  :  "The  preservation  of  caste  might  as 
a  matter  of  fact  be  condoned  if  it  had  had  the  result  hoped  for  by  Father  Nobili, 
if  the  higher  castes  as  well  as  the  lower  had  gone  over  to  Christianity,  and  if  its 
spirit  had  aroused  within  them  the  consciousness  that  they  were  children  of  one 
Father  with  equal  rights,  and  if  the  iron  yoke  of  India,  the  system  of  caste,  had 
been  thus  broken.  But  sad  experience  teaches  us  a  very  different  result.  For 
150  years  the  missionaries  worked  without  ceasing  among  Indian  Christians, 
but  there  was  neither  any  mass-movement  among  the  higher  castes,  nor  was 
there  the  least  amalgamation  of  the  various  classes  among  the  Christians  them- 
selves, and  after  Father  Nobili  had  left  the  mission  (1648)  and  the  charm  of 
novelty  wore  off,  the  Jesuits  found  themselves  once  more  reduced  to  working 
almost  exclusively  among  the  Sudras  and  Parias." 

In  the  forefront  of  such  paneygrists  there  stands  Marshall,  whose  book  in 
three  volumes  contains  the  most  extravagant  language  which  can  be  found 
in  rhetorical  hyperbole  to  glorify  Roman  Catholic  missions  and  the  most 
misleading  to  decry  Evangelical  ones.      Yet  this  book,  with  its  unqualified 


320  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

very  unfruitful  contention,  which  lasted  through  an  entire  century,  "  the 
accommodation  controversy,"  in  which  the  Jesuits  proved  themselves  dis- 
obedient sons  of  the  Popes,  who  decided  against  the  system  of  Nobili  in 
a  series  of  decrees,  it  is  true  not  without  mutual  contradictions.1 

In  spite  of  these  contentions, — which,  especially  towards  their  close, 
proved  increasingly  obstructive, — Catholic  missions  extended  their  held 
in  the  17th  century  not  only  further  and  further  in  the  south  of  India, 
but  also  in  some  measure  to  the  north.  The  Jesuits,  represented  by  ever- 
increasing  numbers  of  missionaries,  many  of  them  eminent  men  {e.g.,  Jao 
de  Brito,  Lainez,  Bouchet,  Beschi,  Martin),  and  the  Franciscans  and 
Dominicans,  who  had  already  been  before  them  in  the  field,  were  joined 
by  Augustinians,  Carmelites,  Oratorians,  Theatines,  and  Capuchins,  so 
that  there  was  an  imposing  staff  of  missionaries  at  work,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  17th  century  there  is  said  to  have  been  gathered  in  an  Indian 
Catholic  Christendom  of  2^  millions — including  of  course  the  Thomas 
Christians — a  statement  which,  in  view  of  the  rhetoric  that  as  a  matter  of 
fact  predominates  in  earlier  Catholic  missionary  statistics,  is  subject  to 
the  gravest  critical  doubt. 

After  the  Sixties  of  the  17th  century  there  came  not  merely  a  stand- 
still but  an  ever  more  rapid  decline.  Under  the  forcible  measures  taken 
by  Sultan  Tippu  in  1784  at  Mysore  to  win  converts  to  Mohammedanism, 
we  are  told  on  Abbe"  Dubois'  authority  that  60,000  Catholic  Christians 
fell  away.  And  this  same  witness,  who  worked  for  25  years  as  a 
missionary  in  India,  draws  such  a  cheerless,  gloomy  picture  of  the 
quality  of  the  aggregate  Catholic  Church,  with  its  566,000  members  (in- 
cluding the  Thomas  Christians),  in  his  letters  of  1815,2  that  one  is  inclined 
to  regard  this  discouraged  man  as  a  pessimist.  But  when  even  such  a 
rhetorical  declaimer  as  Marshall  is  obliged  to  acknowledge,  though  it  be 
under  the  guise  of  the  most  flowery  language,  that  in  1857,  after  Catholic 
missions  had  for  some  decades  been  experiencing  a  great  impetus,  the 
entire  number  of  Indian  Catholics  was  only  850,000,  the  fact  of  a  great 
decline  serves  as  an  all  the  more  disastrous  criticism  upon  the  then  three 
hundred  year  old  Catholic  Mission  in  India,  because  it  was  formerly  in 
the  organs  of  that  very  mission  extolled  in  the  most  extravagantly 
laudatory  terms,  as  one  which  in  quantity  and  quality  had  seen  such 
magnificent  results.  Of  course  it  must  be  taken  into  account  that  a  con- 
siderable lack  of  workers  ensued  upon  the  suppression  of  the  Jesuit 
Order ;  but  Marshall's  exaggerated  statement  is  not  true  that  "  there 
followed  half  a  century  of  complete  neglect."  The  other  Orders  and  the 
fairly  strongly  represented  secular  clerics  still  remained,  and  if  the  house 
had  been  built  upon  a  rock  it  could  not  possibly  have  suffered  such  a  fall. 

unreliability  and  bias,  still  continues  to  be  used  by  Roman  Catholics  as  an 
historical  source,  and  is  even  called  a  classic  by  Janssen.  Cf.  Warneclc,  Pro- 
testantische  BeleucMung,  chap.  ii. — A  "classical"  history  of  missions. 

1  Even  in  the  Catholic  Missions  of  1875,  p.  52,  under  the  editorship  of  the 
Jesuits,  there  was  a  rapturous  apology  for  Nobili  and  his  method  of  accommoda- 
tion :  "Eventually  Nobili's  principles  have  proved  themselves  to  be  altogether 
tenable  and  appropriate,  his  practice  to  be  altogether  commendable,  indeed  the 
only  one  adapted  to  his  purpose.  The  usages  of  caste  made  permissible  to 
Christians  by  P.  de  Nobili  are  those  generally  permitted  to  Christians  to-day." 

And  in  The  Dublin  Review  of  1884,  p.  121  if.,  the  Jesuit  Atteridge  has  the 
audacity  to  explain  that  even  the  Bull  of  Benedict  xiv.  "Omnium  sollicitu- 
dinum"  (1744),  which  renders  any  interpretation  favourable  to  the  Jesuits  an 
impossibility,  ' '  was  in  no  sense  a  judgment  upon  the  methods  of  Nobili. "  ' '  The 
principle  adopted  by  Nobili  was  not  condemned  but  sanctioned  by  the  Holy  See. " 
Such  masterpieces  of  exegesis  are  surely  within  the  capacity  of  Jesuits  alone. 

2  Cf.  Letters  on  the  State  of  Christianity  in  India,  London,  1824, 


ASIA 


321 


From  the  Twenties  of  the  19th  century,  Catholic  missions,  even  in 
India  also,  took  a  new  stride  forward,  increasing  from  one  decade  to 
another,  their  working  forces  having  been  largely  increased  by  the 
drawing  into  co-operation  of  new  missionary  organisations  (the  Paris 
Seminary,  the  Salesians,  etc.),  and  have  stretched  down  further  and 
further  to  the  south,  which  is  still  their  stronghold,  and  where  they  have 
covered  nearly  the  whole  of  that  great  territory.  Besides  the  Patriarchate 
of  Goa,  "the  Hierarchy  of  Nearer  India"  is  divided  into  6  ecclesiastical 
provinces,  3  of  which  are  in  South  and  Central  India  (Madras, 
Pondicherry,  Verapoly)  and  3  in  the  north  (Calcutta,  Bombay,  Agra). 
Not  to  be  too  discursive,  I  must  now  content  myself  with  giving  a 
statistical  survey  of  the  same,  and  I  have  taken  the  figures  as  given  in 
Baumgarten,  as  seeming  to  me  the  most  reliable,  together  with  those  in 
Missiones  Catholicce,  even  though  some  of  the  figures  therein  recorded 
have  now  somewhat  increased. 


Dioceses. 

Catholics. 

Scholars. 

European 
Mission- 
aries. 

Native 
Priests. 

1.  Madras       .... 
Vizigapatam 
Hyderabad 
Nagpur     .... 

44,806 

13,238 

13,590 

9,123 

4,864 
2,447 
1,343 
2,900 

23 
18 
16 
18 

22 
1 
3 
5 

Total     . 

80,757 

11,554 

75 

31 

2.  Pondicherry         , 

Mysore      .... 
Coimbatore 
Cumbakonam    . 

215.3031 
43,986 
35,669 
85,535 

6,978 
3,045 
3,290 
2,114 

78 
51 
40 
24 

27 

10 

8 

18 

Total     . 

380,493 

15,427 

193 

63 

3.   Verapoly     .... 
Quilon       .... 

61,538 
87,600 

4,972 
4,107 

13 
16 

52 
32 

Total     . 

149,138 

9,079 

29 

84 

4.   Calcutta       .... 
Krishnagar        ,         . 
Dacca        .... 
Assam       .... 

72,267 
4,091 

12,000 
1,438 

7,179 

668 

1,318 

ISO 

94 
8 

15 
9 

Total     . 

99,796          9,315 

126 

1  The  enormous  difference  between  this  figure  and  that  in  the  Missiones 
Catholicce  of  1901  (133,770)  is  to  me  inexplicable. 
21 


322 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


Dioceses. 

Catholics. 

Scholars. 

European 
Mission- 
aries. 

Native 
Priests. 

5.  Bombay       .... 
Tritshinapally  . 
Poonah     .... 
Mangaloie         .         . 

16,161 

260,133 

12,995 

85,670 

5,200 

12,465 

2,750 

4,066 

68 
56 
20 
31 

22 
18 
10 
52 

Total     . 

374,959 

2-1,481 

175 

102 

6.  Agra 

Allahabad          .        . 
Lahore      .... 
Kafiristan .... 
Rajpootana        .         .         . 
Bettiah     .... 

9,442 
7,612 
4,500 
3,000 
3,729 
4,025 

230 

869 
1,090 
280 
543 
280 

36 
19 
23 

14 
12 
15 

1 
5 

Total     . 

32,308 

3,292 

119 

6 

Also : — 

Goa 

Cochin      .... 
Damao      .... 
Mylampore 

320,134 
78,324 
75,653 
71,799 

3,685 
7,386 
1,350 
2,319 

5 
4 
3 
6 

653 
54 
76 
51 

Total     . 

545,910 

14,823 

18 

834 

Grand  total     . 

1,663,361 

88,001 

735 

1120 

The  number  of  Catholics  does  not  tally  with  that  given  in  the  Govern- 
ment Census  of  1900,  viz.,  1,122,678  Catholics  plus  322,583  llomish 
Syrians  ("Thomas  Christians")  =  1,445,261.  Perhaps  the  difference  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  Government  Census  omits  the  Catholics 
of  the  Portuguese  and  French  territories  of  Goa  and  Pondicherry,  which 
are  not  coextensive  with  the  dioceses  of  those  names.  We  therefore  take 
the  figures  as  given  in  our  Catholic  source,  deducting  of  course  the 
Thomas  Christians,  who  are  not  the  result  of  Catholic  missions  in  India  : 
1,340,778;  and  we  have  to  reduce  this  number,  which  includes  the 
European  and  Eurasian  Catholic  population,  to  a  mere  1,300,000 — after 
400  years  of  missionary  activity  a  meagre  result.  And  it  is  upon  old 
Portuguese  and  French  territories  that  the  great  majority  are  found. 
Increase  in  the  number  of  Catholics  is  owing  to  births  much  more  than 
to  the  baptism  of  adult  heathen,  and  the  percentage  of  increase  was  far 
less  than  that  among  Protestants  in  the  last  decade.  The  relatively 
small  number  of  scholars  is  remarkable,  although  there  is  no  lack  of 
splendid  educational  institutions,  especially  under  the  Jesuits. 

In  Ceylon  a  Catholic  mission  was  established  by  Xavier,  which  was 
carried  on  with  considerable  numerical  results  for  a  century  during  the 


ASIA 


323 


Portuguese  occupation  of  the  island  (until  1658),  but  which  under  tho 
Dutch  suffered  a  great  diminution  by  reason  of  an  equally  superficial 
counter-mission. 

In  the  end  of  the  18th  century,  when  the  island  became  English,  the 
Catholic  mission  received  a  new  lease  of  life,  and  soon  recovered  a  sub- 
stantial following  in  the  old  territories.  The  work  is  chiefly  in  the 
hands  of  the  Jesuits,  the  Oblates  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin  Mary,  and  the 
Benedictines.  Since  1893  the  hierarchy  of  Ceylon  has  been  organised 
into  the  ecclesiastical  province  (Archbishopric)  of  Colombo  with  four 
suffragan  bishoprics.  I  quote,  again  from  Baumgarten,  their  statistics, 
which,  however,  also  include  Europeans  and  half-breeds  : — 


Dioceses. 

Catholics. 

Scholars. 

European 
Mission- 
aries. 

Native 
Priests. 

Colombo  ..... 
Jaffna  ..... 

Kandy 

Galle 

Trinkomali  .... 

198,101 

40,500 

21,144 

6,857 

7,976 

30,299 
6,798 
1,003 
2,278 
1,579 

69 

27 

9 

9 

10 

10 
13 

18 

Total     . 

274,578 

41,957 

124 

41 

In  Burma  also  the  Catholic  mission  is  of  early  date  ;  it  goes  back  to 
the  17th  century,  yet  it  seems  to  have  had  little  result  before  the  English 
occupation  of  the  country.  Even  to-day  it  is  but  meagre.  Since  1868 
the  country  has  been  divided  into  3  Apostolic  Vicariates  :  North  Burma 
(Mandalay),  East  Burma  (Taungu),  and  South  Burma  (Rangoon).  The 
first  and  third  receive  their  missionaries  from  the  Paris  Seminary  and 
the  second  from  the  Milan  Seminary  (a  total  staff  of  70).  The  total 
number  of  Catholics  is  56,600,  of  whom  41,000  are  in  South  Burma. 

For  the  whole  of  India,  including  Ceylon  and  Burma,  the  statistical 
result  of  Romish  missions  amounts  at  the  most  to  a  round  1,620,000  souls. 

In  Siam  also  (Bangkok)  and  in  Laos  (Nong-Seng),  as  also  in  Malacca 
(Singapore),  there  are  Catholic  missions,  some  of  them  of  ancient  origin, 
which  are  now  manned  by  the  Paris  Missionary  Seminary.  Altogether 
they  number  40,466  Catholics  (22,200  +  9434  +  19,832).  The  chief  Catholic 
missionary  sphere  of  Further  India,  in  which  there  is  no  evangelical 
mission  at  work,  is  the  Peninsula  Indo-Sinica — i.e.  the  great  French  colonial 
territory  which  includes  Tonkin,  Cochin-China  with  Anam,  and  Camboja. 
Here  also  Catholic  missions  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century, 
when  the  Jesuit  Alexander  of  Rhodes  converted  great  masses  of  the 
people.  The  missionaries,  almost  all  of  them  Frenchmen,  have  here 
played  the  role  of  political  agents  in  the  most  pronounced  manner  ;  they 
were  the  forerunners  of  French  rule  in  the  country,  and  helped  to  establish 
it ;  and  in  return  France,  "  whose  sword  everywhere  accomplishes  the 
work  of  God,"  has  lent  them  her  strong  arm  for  the  propagation  of 
Roman  Catholicism.  This  has  of  course  brought  in  its  train  much  bloody 
persecution,  accompanied  by  political  rebellion.  Indeed,  nowhere  have  so 
many  Catholic  missionaries  been  done  to  death  as  here.  The  supervision 
of  this  great  territory  is  chiefly  in  the  hands  of  the  Paris  Seminary  and 
the  Dominicans.     Information  as  to  its  hierarchial  divisions,  as  also  the 


324 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


present  state  of  the  mission,  can  best  be  gleaned  from  the  following  table 
of  statistics,  in  which,  after  the  names  of  the  dioceses,  which  are  still  all 
of  them  Apostolic  Vicariates,  I  have  added  the  names  of  the  central 
stations  in  brackets  : — 


Apostolic  Vicariates. 

Catholics. 

Scholars. 

European 
Mission- 
aries. 

Native 
Priests. 

North  Tonkin  (Bak-ninh) 
East  Tonkin  ( Hai-dzuong) 
Mid  Tonkin  (Bui-tschu)  . 
South  Tonkin  (Xa-doai)   . 
West  Tonkin  (Hanoi) 
Upper  Tonkin  (Hung-hoa) 

Kambodsha  (Paompenh)  . 
N.  Cochin-China  (Hue)    . 
E.  Cochin-China  (Bind-dinh)    . 
W.  Cochin-China  (Saigun) 

27,630 

49,900 

204,000 

118,582 

201,740 

18,460 

28,450 
59,800 
68,430 
63,870 

1,124 

2,918 
12,241 

5,894 
13,239 

1,320 

4,612 
704 
965 

8,115 

13 

15 
17 
34 
66 
24 

33 
46 

48 
57 

27 
38 
78 
68 
119 
14 

21 
33 
29 

68 

Total     . 

840,862 

55,132 

353 

504 

Section  3.  Dutch  India 

244.  Not  far  to  the  south  of  the  mainland  of  Further  India, 
which  runs  out  into  the  Malay  Peninsula,  lies  the  great  group 
of  the  islands  of  Further  India,  forming  the  Malay  Archipelago. 
These  islands,  so  far  as  Protestant  missions  are  concerned,  are 
Dutch  colonial  possessions ;  while  the  Philippines,  which,  so 
long  as  they  belonged  to  Spain,  were  closed  to  these  missions, 
have  now  been  opened  to  them.1 

This  Dutch  India,  which  forms  the  bridge  between  Asia  and 
Oceania,  is  traditionally  divided  into  the  Larger  Sunda  Islands — 
Sumatra,  Java,  Borneo,  Celebes;  the  Lesser  Sunda  Islands — 
Bali,  Lomboc,  Sumbawa,  Flores,  Sumba,  Sawu,  Timor,  etc. ;  and 
the  Moluccas — Bum,  Ambon,  Ceram,  Almaheira,  Ternate,  Sangi 
Islands,  Talaut  Islands,  etc.  These  islands,  so  far  as  they  are 
Dutch,  are  inhabited  by  a  population  belonging  in  quite  a 
preponderating  degree  to  the  Malay  race,  and  numbering 
over  32  millions.  The  great  majority  have  been  Moham- 
medanised,  and  this  continued  still  under  the  rule  of  the  Dutch, 
who  were  led  by  political  illusion  to  show  favour  to  Islam. 
Malay  is  the  lingua  franca  of  the  archipelago,  and  is  the  official 

1  fit  was  in  December  1898  that  the  Philippines  were  ceded  by  treaty  In 
the  United  Slates,  and  immediately  thereafter  the  first  evangelical  mission  was 
established  there  by  the  American  Presbyterians. — Ed.] 


ASIA  325 

language  of  the  Government,  but  there  are,  besides,  a  host  of 
other  languages,  which  are  to  be  distinguished  rather  as  dialects 
of  Malay. 

Holland,  like  England,  owes  its  Indian  colonial  empire  to  a 
privileged  trading  company,  the  East  India  Company,  founded 
in  1602.  Hailed  at  first  as  a  liberator  by  the  natives, 
who  had  been  sorely  oppressed  by  the  Portuguese,  it  soon 
became  itself  an  oppressor.  In  contrast  with  the  British  East 
India  Company,  the  Dutch  Company  at  once  took  up  the 
Christianising  of  the  natives,  or  rather,  their  Protestantising, 
into  its  colonial  programme,  less,  it  must  be  confessed,  from 
religious  than  from  political  motives.  The  way  in  which  it 
carried  its  plan  into  effect  has  already  been  described 
(p.  45). 

But  in  spite  of  the  mechanical  missionary  methods,  the  in- 
sufficient number  and  quality  of  the  workers,  the  subsequent 
almost  entire  neglect  of  the  mission  congregations,  and  the 
reversal  of  colonial  politics  in  relation  to  Christian  missions, 
a  remnant  was  left  of  the  Christians  of  the  older  mission. 
They  were,  however,  in  such  a  degraded  condition  that  hardly 
any  difference  could  now  be  observed  between  them  and  the 
heathen.  The  first  missionaries  of  the  Dutch  Missionary 
Society — especially  Kam,  Le  Bruijn,  Bar  and  Roskott — de- 
voted themselves  faithfully  to  these  degenerate  Christians. 
Then  the  ingenious  Heldring,  in  particular,  so  stirred  the 
conscience  of  his  countrymen,  that  they  directed  more  energy 
to  their  spiritual  awakening.  He  himself  sent  out  for  this 
purpose  quite  a  number  of  workers,  some  of  whom  were  pupils 
of  Gossner  (Steller,  Kelling,  Schroder,  Grohn).  The  Dutch 
Colonial  Government,  too,  gradually  became  so  interested  in 
these  old  Christians,  that  it  not  only  handed  over  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  smaller  part  of  them  to  its  preachers,  but  also 
appointed  special  assistants  as  pastors  for  the  larger  part. 
Among  the  preachers  there  were  many  who  did  their  calling 
little  credit,  and  there  are  still  such,  but  there  have  not  been 
wanting  men  who  have  devoted  themselves  faithfully  to  the 
cause  of  the  native  Christians.  It  was  mostly  missionaries 
who  were  taken  into  the  service  of  the  Government  as  assist- 
ant preachers,1  and  it  was  also  older  or  more  recent  mission 

1  There  is  an  exception  in  the  case  of  the  seven  missionaries  011  the  Sangi  and 
Talaut  Islands,  who  are  maintained  by  the  Colonial  Government ;  it  also  sup- 
plies financial  support  to  the  mission  schools  and  the  medical  mission.  As 
regards  the  status  of  the  preachers  and  the  assistant  preachers,  the  former  not 
only  receive  a  higher  salary,  but  are  in  a  manner  the  superintendents  of  the 
latter,  preside  at  their  district  conferences,  and  are  the  medium  of  their  official 
intercourse  with  the  Colonial  Church  authorities.  The  preachers  are  pastors  of 
the  European  congregations,  and  the  spiritual  care  of  the  old  inland  congrega- 


326  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

congregations  that  were  given  over  to  them  and  then  taken 
into  the  number  of  the  Gevestigte  Gemeenten,  which,  along  with 
the  European  congregations,  make  up  the  Protestant  church 
in  Dutch  East  India.  And  so  the  great  majority  of  the 
descendants  of  the  old  Christians  are  now  under  the  care  of 
colonial  pastors.  How  large  their  number  may  have  been  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century  is  hard  to  determine.1  To-day 
they  make  up,  as  has  been  said,  the  main  strength  of  the 
so-called  Gevestigte  Christengemeenten,  and  are  to  be  found, 
besides,  in  Java,  mainly  in  the  south-western  islands  (Timor, 
Eotti,  etc.),  the  Moluccas  (Ambon,  etc.),  and  in  the  Minahassa 
on  the  island  of  Celebes.  The  total  number  of  the  native 
Christians  belonging  to  them  is  over  260,000  ;2  while  the 
number  of  souls  in  the  mission  congregations  (inclusive  of 
those  in  the  Sangi  and  Talaut  Islands)  is  165,000.  The 
European  congregations,  with  about  52,672  souls,  and  the 
inland  congregations,  are  ministered  to,  the  former  by  about 
30  preachers,  the  latter  by  25  assistant  preachers,  and  a  large 
number  of  assistant  pastoral  workers.  The  missionaries  proper 
number  150,  of  whom  86  belong  to  the  Rhenish  Mission. 

245.  Modern  mission  work  began  in  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago in  the  second  decade  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
Netherlands  Missionary  Society  was  first  in  the  field,  and  it 
was  followed  gradually  by  all  the  existing  Dutch  missionary 
societies,  which  have  their  fields  of  labour  almost  entirely  in 
the  Indian  colonial  empire  of  their  own  country.  For  a  long 
time  the  Colonial  Government  made  the  work  of  the  Nether- 
lands missionaries  disagreeable  enough,  and  made  it  very  diffi- 
cult for  missionaries  who  were  not  Dutch  to  begin  work  at  all. 
Gradually,  however,  a  change  has  been  brought  about.  Not 
only  are  foreign  societies  allowed  to  settle,  but  more  and  more 
missions  are  treated  with  good- will,  so  that  in  this  respect 
no  ground  for  grievance  now  remains.  Only,  the  number  of 
assistant  preachers  is  too  small,  and  the  Government  school 
system,  which,  like  the  English  system  in  British  India,  shuts 
out  instruction  in  the  Christian  religion,  causes  the  mission, 
especially  in  the  Minahassa,  much  trouble.     Besides  8  Dutch 

tions,  which  devolves  only  upon  some  of  them,  is  committed  to  them  as  a  kind  of 
additional  office.  The  assistant  preachers  have  to  do  oidy  with  the  pastorate  of 
native  congregations. 

1  Heldring  estimated  them,  certainly  too  highly,  at  200,000  ;  Schreiber 
reduces  this  number  to  about  75,000  to  100,000. 

2  In  this  number  are  included  about  160,000  members  of  the  Minahassa 
congregations,  the  great  majority  of  whom  are  the  fruit  of  modern  missions  in 
that  place,  and  were  incorporated  into  the  Colonial  State  Church  only  twenty 
years  ago.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  not  included  the  Sangi  Islands,  with 
43,300  Christians,  of  whom  many  are  the  descendants  of  the  Christians  of 
former  days. 


ASIA  327 

societies,  some  of  them  small,  the  Salvation  Army,  and  all  sorts 
of  independent  missionaries,  there  are  two  German  societies, 
the  Ehenish  and  the  Neukirchen,  in  the  Dutch  Indies ;  while 
in  North  Borneo  (Sarawak),  which  is  included  in  British 
Further  India,  there  is  also  the  Anglican  S.  P.  G.  Next  to 
the  old  Nederl.  Z.  G-.,  which  has  won  great  success  in  the 
Minahassa,  the  Ehenish  society  among  the  Bataks  in  Sumatra 
has  the  most  fruitful  field.  We  shall  traverse  the  archipelago 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  geographical  order. 

246.  Setting  out  from  Malacca,  we  come  first  to  the  large 
island  of  Sumatra,  in  which  the  majority  of  the  population  are 
subject  to  Islam.  Of  the  tribes  in  the  interior  which  have 
continued  heathen,  we  are  concerned  only  with  the  Bataks, 
who  have  a  speech  and  written  character  of  their  own.  They 
inhabit  the  mountains  from  about  Padang,  in  the  middle  of  the 
west  coast,  to  the  other  side  of  the  Toba  Lake,  and  as  far  as 
Deli  on  the  east  coast.  They  are  given  up  to  a  crude  belief  in 
spirits,  and  have  long  been  notorious  for  their  cannibalism. 
The  American  Board  made  a  futile  attempt  to  establish  a 
mission  among  them,  which  came  to  an  end  with  the  murder 
of  its  two  missionaries,  Munson  and  Lyman,  in  1834.  The 
Ehenish  Missionary  Society  was  directed  to  the  Bataks  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Sixties,  after  Pastor  Witteveen  of  Ermelo 
had  already  sent  them  some  missionaries,  and  a  Dutch 
linguist,  Van  der  Tuuk,  had  translated  the  Gospel  of  John  into 
their  language.  The  two  first  missionaries  settled  on  the 
plateau  of  Sipirok,  and  then  Nommensen,  to  whom  the  role 
of  leader  soon  fell,  pressed  into  the  northern  district  of 
Silindung,  which  at  that  time  had  still  an  infamous  reputa- 
tion. There,  with  the  support  of  courageous  fellow-workers, 
after  many  struggles  and  dangers,  in  which  his  life  repeat- 
edly hung  in  the  balance,  in  a  comparatively  short  time 
he  led  Christianity  to  victory.  Silindung  is  now  completely 
Christianised.  The  chief  stations  are  Pearadja  with  8400 
Christians,  Sipoholon  (where  there  is  now  also  the  splendid 
seminary  for  teachers  and  preachers  with  100  students)  with 
4300,  Hutabarat  and  Simorangkir  with  3800  and  3400,  Panga- 
loan  with  3900,  and  Pansur-na-pitu  with  2600.  South  of 
Silindung,  as  far  as  the  district  of  Angkola-Sipirok,  Christianity 
also  gained  more  and  more  ground,  and  gathered  station  con- 
gregations of  more  than  2000  Christians  (Bungabondar).  Here 
the  mission  is  engaged  in  a  conflict — to  a  large  extent  a 
victorious  conflict — with  Islam,  and  is  now  pressing  onwards 
into  the  Mohammedan  Padang  Bolak.  Further,  the  advance 
of  the  mission  northwards  from  Silindung  has  been  on  a  large 
scale,  and  very  successful ;  it  has  entered  Toba,  which  twenty 


328  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

years  ago  was  quite  inaccessible,  and  reached  the  Toba  Lake. 
This  beautiful  lake  is  surrounded  by  a  whole  circle  of  stations, 
and  south  of  it,  on  the  so-called  Steppe,  Christianity  continues 
its  advance.  Many  of  these  stations  were  indeed  exposed  to 
great  danger,  especially  from  the  heathen  priest-king  Singa- 
mangaraja,  the  over-chief  of  the  free  Batak  tribes  ;  but  in  spite 
of  this  some  stations  have  reached  a  high  state  of  development, 
— Balige  and  Laguboti,  for  example,  which  have  congregations 
of  3800  baptized  Christians.  And  quite  recently,  in  associa- 
tion with  a  Batak  missionary  society,  a  powerful  advance  has 
been  made  into  Timor,  which  threatens  to  become  Mohammed- 
anised,  in  the  East  of  the  Toba  Lake  towards  Deli  on  the  East 
Coast,  a  firm  footing  having  been  obtained  some  years  before 
in  the  province  of  Uluan  and  on  the  Toba  island  Samosir. 
In  the  end  of  1904  the  total  number  of  baptized  Bataks  at 
36  principal  stations  and  265  out-stations  was  62,000,  and  that 
of  catechumens  10,000.  The  old  heathenism  is  becoming  always 
weaker,  and  a  Christian  native  church  is  steadily  growing  up. 
The  congregations  are  well  organised,  and  provide  out  of  their 
own  resources  for  the  erection  of  churches  and  schools,  and 
also  to  some  extent  for  the  support  of  the  native  pastors,  of 
whom  there  are  27  ordained,  and  of  the  native  teachers,  who 
number  359.  The  congregations  are  presided  over  by  elders, 
who  are  energetic  helpers  of  the  (51  European)  missionaries. 
The  Batak  translation  of  the  Bible  is  at  present  in  course  of 
revision,  and  a  native  literature  is  being  diligently  prepared. 
Two  medical  missionaries  and  13  sisters  are  also  at  work,  and 
an  industrial  school  has  been  set  agoing.  The  Christianising 
process  has  been  accompanied  by  a  progressive  civilisation, 
and  the  conditions  are  peaceful,  wherever  the  influence  of  the 
mission  and  of  the  Colonial  Government  extends. — At  the  wish 
of  the  Governor  of  the  West  Coast  of  Sumatra,  the  Rhenish 
M.  S.  has  newly  begun  a  small  mission  on  the  Mentawai 
islands  and  on  Engano. 

There  are  in  Sumatra,  besides  the  Rhenish  missionaries, 
also  the  Nederl.  Z.  G.  on  the  east  coast  at  Deli,  the  Doopgez 
Z.  V.,  and  the  Java  Committee  (in  Angkola) ;  but  these  to- 
gether have  scarcely  700  Christians. 

247.  Since  1865  the  Rhenish  Mission  has  also  been  at 
work  on  the  neighbouring  smaller  island  of  Nias,  which  lies 
opposite  the  port  of  Siboga  and  has  about  a  quarter  of  a  million 
of  heathen  inhabitants,  allied  in  race  to  the  Bataks.  The  work 
here  was  longer  in  attaining  success.  Only  after  ten  years 
were  there  a  few  baptisms  at  the  3  stations  situated  about 
the  middle  of  the  east  coast,  but  here  also,  in  the  course  of  the 
last  decade,  a  harvest  has  been  ripening;  indeed,  within  the 


ASIA  329 

last  five  years  a  Christian  movement  has  begun  which  seems 
to  be  assuming  relatively  larger  dimensions  than  that  in  the 
Batak  territory.  The  3  original  stations  have  increased  to  14, 
among  which  Dahana,  Gunong  Sitoli,  Ombolata,  and  Humene 
have  congregations  of  from  780  to  1630  baptized  persons. 
And  not  for  a  long  time  has  it  been  only  the  East  Coast  that 
was  occupied;  the  network  of  stations  stretches  over  the 
interior  to  the  West  Coast,  and  there  is  hope  also  of  again 
obtaining  a  footing  in  the  South,  where  previous  efforts  have 
been  in  vain.  The  total  number  of  Christians  at  the  end  of 
1904  was  11,500,  including  catechumens.  Missionary  Sunder- 
mann  has  produced  valuable  linguistic  works,  and  has  trans- 
lated the  New  Testament  and  the  Psalms  into  the  Nias 
language. 

On  the  Batu  Islands,  south  of  Nias,  the  Netherlands 
Lutheran  Missionary  Society  conducts  a  small  mission  since 
1889,  which  has  2  missionaries  and  about  100  Christians 
gathered  at  2  stations. 

248.  The  beautiful  island  of  Java,  Holland's  treasure-house, 
has  hitherto  not  been  a  very  fruitful  field  for  Christian  missions. 
Some  26,000  native  evangelical  Christians  (inclusive  of  5800 
belonging  to  the  settled  congregations),  of  whom,  too,  not  a 
few  are  Chinese,  are  a  meagre  result  out  of  a  population  of 
over  25  millions,  for  three  centuries  under  the  dominion  of  a 
Christian  power.  The  blame  does  not  lie  entirely  with  the 
perverted  colonial  policy,  which,  by  showing  favour  to  Moham- 
medanism, has  directly  fostered  its  growth ;  but  just  as  much 
with  the  mission  itself,  for  it  has  treated  this  important  field 
in  a  very  step-motherly  fashion,  and  has  been  greatly  lacking 
in  missionary  aggressiveness.  Instead  of  working  directly 
among  the  inland  population,  the  roundabout  method  was 
attempted  of  forming  and  caring  for  European  and  half- 
European  congregations,  and  through  these  acting  on  the 
natives, — a  mistaken  method,  which  has  not  even  yet  been 
entirely  departed  from.  Six  Dutch  missionary  societies  and 
one  German,  the  Neukirchen  Society,  are  at  work  on  the 
island.  The  Bible  has  been  translated  into  the  language  of 
Java  by  Gericke  and  Jansz,  and  into  the  Sudanese  language 
by  Grashuis  and  Coolsma. 

The  unimportant  inland  congregations  in  Batavia,  the 
capital,  and  the  neighbouring  Depok,  are  in  the  main  of  older 
date.  In  Depok  there  is  a  large  seminary  for  native  helpers 
for  the  whole  archipelago.  In  addition,  the  Nederl.  Zend.  Ver. 
has  9  stations  in  western  Java,  with  about  1800  Christians. 
The  door  has  been  more  widely  opened  to  the  mission  of  the 
Reformed  Churches  in  central  Java,  especially  in  and  around 


330  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  Eesidency  of  Bagalen.  Yet,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of 
European  missionaries,  the  Christians  to  be  found  here,  who 
numbered  more  than  7000,  were  very  deficient  in  religious 
knowledge;  and  since  the  influential  native  teacher  Sadrach, 
who  was  an  almost  wholly  independent  worker,  was  pre- 
cipitately dismissed  on  account  of  doctrinal  differences  and 
marvellous  methods  of  his  own,  their  number  has  dwindled 
to  a  small  remnant.  From  6000  to  7000  followed  Sadrach, 
who  has  since  joined  the  Irvingites.  The  confusion  occasioned 
by  the  dismissal  of  Sadrach  was  also  turned  to  account  by  the 
Eomish  counter-mission,  in  order  to  fish  in  troubled  waters. 
This  counter-mission  also  greatly  harasses  the  Salatiga  mission, 
which  extends  throughout  eastern  central  Java  (the  Samarang 
and  Eembang  Eesidencies).  The  Salatiga  mission  was  taken 
over  from  Ermelo  by  the  Neukirchen  Society,  and  has  at 
present  1400  Christians  under  its  care.  Of  the  remaining 
stations  of  this  field,  the  most  noteworthy  are  the  station  of 
the  Nederl.  Z.  S.  at  Samarang,  and  Margoreja  and  Kedung, 
which  belong  to  the  Baptists.  There  is  at  present  only  a 
small  congregation  at  Surabaya,  in  east  Java,  from  which  a 
religious  awakening  began  to  go  forth  in  the  second  decade  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  through  the  agency  of  missionary  Kam 
and  of  Emde,  a  pious  watchmaker,  but  in  a  large  part  of  the 
south-east  of  the  island  this  awakening  has  left  abiding  effects. 
A  compact  body  of  the  native  Christians  of  Java,  numbering 
about  9000,  is  gathered  around  Kediri,  Kendalpajak,  and  above 
all  around  Mojowarno,  the  most  flourishing  station  in  the 
whole  island,  with  its  4500  Christians,  the  foundation  of  which 
was  firmly  laid  by  the  richly  graced  missionary  Jellesma 
(1849-58).  There  are  also  in  Java,  in  addition  to  the  Salva- 
tion Army,  several  independent  missionaries,  but  their  work 
has  had  little  success. 

249.  To  the  north  of  Java  lies  Borneo,  the  largest  island 
of  the  archipelago,  which,  however,  has  a  population  of  only 
a  million  and  three  quarters  of  Dayaks  and  immigrant  Malays, 
as  well  as  Chinese.  In  1835  the  Ehenish  Mission  began  work 
in  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  island,  and,  pressing  on  into 
the  interior  by  a  number  of  the  water-ways  which  are  so 
numerous  there,  it  gradually  established  8  stations.  Experi- 
ments were  tried  with  all  sorts  of  missionary  methods  for 
carrying  the  Gospel  to  the  wild,  inaccessible  Dayaks.  When 
at  last  the  seed  sown  in  hope  seemed  to  be  sprouting,  there 
broke  out  in  1859  a  bloody  rebellion  of  the  Mohammedan 
Malays  against  the  Dutch  rule;  in  this  the  Dayaks  became 
involved,  and  all  the  inland  stations  were  destroyed  and  7  of 
the  mission  staff  were  murdered.     It  was  18G6  before  the  work 


ASIA  331 

in  the  interior  could  be  taken  up  again,  but  from  that  time 
onwards  it  has  again  extended  among  various  tribes,  beginning 
at  the  station  of  Kwala  Kapuas,  which  was  founded  by  Zimmer, 
and  it  is  now  carried  on  at  8  stations.  At  these,  however, 
there  have  been  gathered  up  to  the  present  only  about  2000 
Christians,  among  whom  there  are  some  immigrant  Chinese. 

The  S.  P.  G.  has  a  not  unfruitful  field  of  labour  among  both 
the  land  and  the  sea  Dayaks,  in  the  British  Protectorate  of 
Sarawak,  in  the  west  of  the  island,  to  which  it  was  invited  by 
Brooke,  the  founder,  and  also  in  British  North  Borneo.  This 
field  has  been  erected  into  the  bishopric  of  Labuan,  which 
includes  Singapore.  In  these  two  fields  the  Society  has  gathered 
5000  Christians  at  6  chief  stations,  and  under  the  influence  of 
Christianity  the  roughness  of  their  manners  has  been  largely 
mitigated.  Kecently  the  American  Methodists  have  also  begun 
mission  work  in  Sarawak  among  the  Chinese  there,  and  through 
them  among  the  Dayaks  and  the  Malay ese  (600  Christians  at 
6  stations);  in  like  manner  the  Basel  Mission  has  made  an 
attempt  to  care  for  the  Chinese  Christians  who  have  immi- 
grated hither. 

250.  A  fruitful  evangelical  mission  field  is  found  in  the 
neighbouring  island  of  Celebes,  among  the  heathen  Alifurs 
who  inhabit  the  Minahassa,  the  north-eastern  tongue  of  the 
island.  The  rest  of  the  population  of  the  island  is  in  great 
part  Mohammedan.  When  Hellendoorn,  the  missionary  of 
the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  began  modern  missions 
here  in  1826,  he  found  some  neglected  remnants  of  Christianity 
still  remaining  from  old  time.  The  work,  however,  soon  passed 
into  a  heathen  mission  proper,  which  led,  through  the  energetic 
work  of  Kiedel  and  Schwartz  in  particular,  to  the  formation 
of  a  native  church,  which  includes  to-day  about  160,000 
Christian  Alifurs.  The  chief  stations  are  Menado,  Tondano, 
Langowan,  Ajermadidi,  Sonder,  Tomohon,  Katahan.  Even 
eye-witnesses  who  are  indifferent  to  missions  are  full  of  praise 
for  the  outward  transformation  consequent  on  Christianisation ; 
and  yet  by  the  pressure  of  the  colonial  system  of  civilisation 
the  social  advance  is  much  hindered.  Criminal  cases  hardly 
ever  occur,  and  the  security  of  life  and  property  is  greater 
than  with  us  at  home ;  although  there  are,  of  course,  some 
moral  shadows.  From  want  of  means  the  Netherlands  Mis- 
sionary Society  had  to  give  up  this  field,  the  most  fruitful  in 
the  whole  Indian  Archipelago,  to  the  Colonial  State  Church, 
which  took  the  missionaries  into  its  service  as  assistant 
preachers,  and  is  now  obliged  to  provide  pastors  for  the 
people.  The  Netherlands  M.  S.  now  supports  only  a  few 
missionaries,  and  a  large  part  of  the  old  mission  schools,  with 


332  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

a  seminary  for  teachers  at  Tomohon ;  it  is  questionable,  how- 
ever, if  its  resources  will  permit  it  to  continue  the  competition 
with  the  Government  schools,  in  which,  unfortunately,  religion 
has  no  place. 

The  adjacent  Sangi  and  Talaut  Islands  are  also  a  pro- 
ductive mission  field.  Principally  Gossner  missionaries  (Steller, 
Kelling,  Tauffman),  sent  out  at  the  instance  of  Heldring,  and 
a  few  Dutch  missionaries,  all  of  whom  had  a  great  struggle 
to  get  the  means  of  sustenance,  took  the  Christian  remnant 
from  old  times  here  under  their  watchful  care,  and  gradually 
a  body  of  Christians  numbering  61,000  has  been  brought 
together,  whose  moral  life,  it  must  be  said,  still  shows  con- 
siderable defects.  At  present  this  mission  is  managed  by 
a  special  committee,  which  is  connected  with  a  society  in 
Batavia. 

251.  In  the  Molucca  group,  particularly  in  the  southern 
portion  (Ceram,  Ambon),  Kam  and  Eoskott,  missionaries  of 
the  Netherlands  M.  S.,  laboured  with  great  success,  but  the 
Society  withdrew  from  this  field  in  1865.  Now  most  of  the 
congregations,  embracing  71,000  Christians,  belong  to  the 
Netherlands  State  Church  as  "  Gevestigde."  Bum,  the  neigh- 
bouring island,  and  Almaheira,  a  northern  island  of  the  same 
group,  where  recently  a  strong  movement  toward  Christianity 
has  set  in,  are  occupied  as  a  mission  field  (5600  Christians)  of 
the  Utrecht  Missionary  Union. 

Finally  we  come  to  the  Lesser  Sunda  or  South -Western 
Islands,  where  in  Timor  there  are  "  Gevestigde  Gemeenten  " 
numbering  about  8000  souls,  who  seem,  however,  to  lack 
sufficient  oversight,  and  to  be  on  a  rather  low  level  of  moral 
and  religious  life.  Missions  proper  are  carried  on  only  in 
Sawu,  by  the  Netherlands  Missionary  Society,  and  in  Sumba, 
by  the  Eeformed  Church.  The  number  of  Christians  (5000), 
in  so  far  as  it  depends  on  the  willingness  of  the  people,  would 
be  much  greater  if  the  missionary  equipment  were  not  so 
scanty,  a  complaint  which  unfortunately  may  justly  be  made 
with  respect  to  almost  the  whole  of  the  archipelago,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Ehenish  and  Neukirchen  fields.  If  we  calcu- 
late the  missionary  result  within  the  mission  congregations  in 
round  numbers  as  165,000,  the  total  number  of  native  Christians 
in  the  Dutch  Indies,  inclusive  of  those  in  the  Gevestigde 
Gemeenten,  will  at  present  reach  415,000. 

Roman  Catholic  Missions.    Appendix  to  Section  3 

The  Catholic  mission  to  the  Indian  ArcMpelago  (or  Indonesia,  in 
Catholic  parlance),  which  was  made  part  of  the  Apostolic  Vicariate  oi 
Batavia  in  1842,  and  is  manned  by  50  priests  (+  15  lay  brothers) 
of  the   Society  of   Jesus,   and,  besides  16  Aloysius   brothers,    by    more 


Asia  333 

than  240  sisters  of  various  Orders,  is  unimportant.  It  numbers  a  total  of 
25,400 native  Christians,  of  whom  the  large  majority  (15,000)  are  on  Flores, 
6500  on  Celebes,  and  some  2000  on  Timor  ;  the  small  remaining  number 
are  scattered  over  the  Kai  Islands,  Java,  South  Borneo,  and  Sumatra.1 

On  the  other  hand,  Catholicism  reigned  supreme  in  the  Philippines 
until  they  became  the  possession  of  the  United  States.  Immediately 
after  the  islands  were  discovered  in  1520,  they  were  occupied  by  Catholic 
missionaries,  first  by  Augustinians,  upon  whom  Franciscans,  Dominicans, 
Jesuits,  and  Recollects  (Barefooted  Augustinians)  soon  followed.  As 
early  as  1586  the  bishopric  of  Manila,  founded  in  1579,  was  raised  to  an 
archbishopric,  and  the  three  bishoprics  of  Nueva  Segovia,  Nueva  Caceres, 
and  Cebu  were  placed  under  its  jurisdiction,  an  hierarchical  organisation 
which  was  completed  only  in  1867,  when  the  diocese  of  Taro  was  also 
included  within  it.  As  Baumgarten  emphatically  remarks,  "  The  endea- 
vours of  the  Orders  were  very  powerfully  supported  by  the  Spanish 
Government,"  so  that  Catholisation  made  tremendous  progress,  and  within 
less  than  a  century  was  deemed  complete.  Of  the  7,650,000  inhabitants 
(according  to  the  census  of  1903),  6,560,000  are  said  to  be  Catholics,  and 
of  the  million  non-Catholics,  648,000  were  registered  as  "  still  completely 
savage  and  uncivilised."  "  Although  it  had  been  possible  to  man  an  ever- 
increasing  number  of  parishes  with  native  clergy,  a  considerable  number 
of  the  many  missionaries  who  annually  poured  in  from  the  various 
Orders  had  still  to  be  charged  with  the  supervision  of  Christian  con- 
gregations. The  Church  government  remained  in  the  hands  of 
Europeans,  and,  owing  to  the  superficial,  unstable  character  of  the  people, 
the  activity  of  the  priests  in  question  was  completely  absorbed  in  the 
pastoral  care  of  the  parishes,  which  for  the  most  part  were  very  extensive, 
so  that  only  a  fraction  remained  for  the  founding  of  new  missions."  2 
Everything  was  in  the  hands  of  the  very  numerous  monks  (over  1100), 
even  most  of  the  landed  property,  so  that  even  Baumgarten  remarks  that 
"  a  change  seemed  bound  to  come."  It  is  well  known  that  the  hated 
dominion  of  the  monks  brought  about  the  rebellion,  and  that  only  under 
American  rule  has  the  question  of  property  been  satisfactorily  dealt  with. 
An  American  prelate  has  been  designated  Archbishop  of  Manila,  and  he 
is  seriously  endeavouring  to  reduce  the  chaos  to  order.  Whether  the 
formation  of  a  national  Church,  independent  of  Rome,  for  which  Arch- 
bishop (!)  Aglipay  is  working,  will  prove  a  success,  the  future  must  show. 
Up  to  the  present  time  he  has  already  consecrated  ten  bishops  and  founded 
a  seminary  in  Manila,  which  can,  however,  scarcely  compete  with  the 
Jesuit  College. 

Whereas  during  the  period  of  Spanish  rule  repeated  attempts  to 
evangelise  were  forcibly  repressed,  since  the  American  occupation  of  the 
islands  seven  missionary  societies  of  the  United  States  (Methodist 
Episcopal,  Presbyterian,  Baptist,  Independent,  United  Brethren,  Church 
of  Christ,  and  Episcopal),  with  a  total  staff  of  40  workers,  assisted  by 
two  Bible  Societies,  have  gradually  begun  evangelistic  and  missionary 
work,  on  the  one  hand,  among  the  Catholic  population,  and,  on  the 
other,  among  the  still  heathen  remainder  of  the  inhabitants,  as  also  on 
the  peninsula  of  Luzon  (centre,  Manila),  and  on  Panay,  Negros,  and 
Mindanao.  The  evangelistic  work  has  already  met  with  not  inconsider- 
able success,  but  the  missionary  work  is  as  yet  quite  in  its  infancy. 

1  Missloius  Catholicce,  1903,  p.  94  ;  idem,  October,  p.  22,  gives  the  total 
number  as  27,000. 

2  Cf.  Missiones  Catholicce,  1S80,  p.  223.  For  a  general  description  of  the 
state  of  the  Philippines  under  Spanish  rule,  cf.  Warneck,  Trot.  Bclcuchtvng 
p.  445. 


334 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


Section  4.  China  and  Corea 

252.  From  the  islands  beyond  India  let  us  return  to  the 
Asiatic  continent,  and  halt  first  at  China.1 

It  is,  to  be  sure,  an  unhistorical  assumption  that  the 
Chinese  Empire  has  existed  since  about  3000  B.C. ;  but  even 
though  it  was  not  till  220  B.C.  that  it  became  a  single  united 
State,  it  still  remains  the  oldest  of  all  the  great  empires  of 
the  world.  During  its  long  history,  indeed,  the  dynasties  have 
changed  repeatedly,  and  internal  wars  have  not  been  wanting ; 
but  through  all  political  crises  the  existence  of  the  empire 
has  been  preserved.  The  eighteen  provinces  of  China  proper, 
which  are  endowed  with  a  large  measure  of  self-government, 
comprise  only  a  third  of  the  land  surface.  The  other  two- 
thirds  are  made  up  by  the  annexes  of  Mongolia,  Manchuria, 
Tibet,  and  Chinese  Turkestan ;  but  these  contain  only  a  small 
fraction — about  18  millions — of  the  population.  According 
to  the  census  of  1901,  the  first  undertaken  by  the  Chinese 
Government,  the  population  of  the  eighteen  provinces  amounted 
to  407  millions,  and  with  the  addition  of  Manchuria,  Tibet, 
Mongolia,  and  Chinese  Turkestan,  to  426  millions.2  Only 
the  lower  river-lands  are  over-populated,  and  in  the  interior 
large  territories  lie  comparatively  desert.  China  has  an  ancient 
civilisation ;  the  people,  who  are  as  diligent  and  contented 
as  they  are  subtle  and  avaricious,  do  excellent  work  in  agri- 
culture and  industries,  and  when  once  they  appropriate  the 
products  of  Western  civilisation,  and  particularly  when  they 


1  Williams,  The  Middle  Kingdom,  2  vols.,  5th  ed.,  New  York,  1883.  Med- 
hurst,  China:  its  State  and  Trospcctn,  London,  1857  ;  The  Foreigner  in  Far 
Cathay,  London,  1872.  Smith,  Chinese,  Characteristics,  New  York,  1894.  "The 
Missionary  Movement  in  China,"  in  Chinese  Recorder,  1897,  569  ;  1898,  161. 

2  According  to  China's  Millions,  1902,  p.  153,  the  population  of  407  millions 
is  distributed  among  the  eighteen  provinces  as  follows  : — 


1. 

Chih-li      . 

, 

20,937,000 

10. 

Ilupeh 

35,280,685 

2. 

Shantung  . 

, 

38,217,900 

11. 

Hunan     . 

22,169,673 

3. 

Shansi 

. 

12,200,456 

12. 

Kansu 

10,385,376 

4. 

Honan 

35,316,800 

13. 

Shensi 

8,450,132 

5. 

Kiangsu    . 

13,980,235 

14. 

Szechuan . 

68,724,890 

6. 

Nganhwei . 

. 

23,672,314 

15. 

Kwangtung 

31,685,251 

7. 

Kiangsi 

. 

26,532,125 

16. 

Kwangsi  . 

5,142,330 

8. 

Chekiang  . 

. 

11,580,692 

17. 

Kweichan 

7,650,282 

!». 

Fukien      . 

• 

22,876,540 

18. 

Yunnan    . 

12,324,574 

Total 

407,337,805 

Manchuria  .        . 

.     8,500,000 

Mongolia 

. 

.     2,580,000 

Tibet  . 

.     6,430,000 

Chineso  Turkestan 

.     1,200,000 

Grand  total 

426,047,305 

asia  335 

introduce  the  modern  methods  of  communication,  they  will 
threaten  Europe  and  America  with  the  most  dangerous  com- 
petition. The  highest  respect  is  paid  to  the  flourishing  class  of 
the  literati,  who  really  carry  on  the  government,  a  government, 
indeed,  which  in  every  one  of  its  branches — administration, 
judicature,  army,  etc. — is  rotten  through  and  through.  The 
officials  are  dishonest ;  they  oppress  and  rob  the  people ;  they 
are  open  to  corruption,  stir  up  hatred  to  foreigners,  and  hinder 
all  healthy  progress.  The  only  access  to  public  offices  is  by 
the  very  severe  examinations,  and  the  highest  offices  are 
attainable  only  by  those  who,  after  repeated  tests,  have  gained 
the  highest  degree.  The  education  of  the  learned,  however, 
consists  in  fixing  in  the  memory  the  contents  of  the  old 
classical  writings,  and  in  the  acquisition  of  the  classical  style, — 
a  formalism  which,  combined  with  a  conservatism  that  idola- 
trously  worships  whatever  is  old,  is  the  death  of  all  intellectual 
progress.  And  like  its  learning  is  the  boasted  politeness  of 
China  :  it  consists  of  a  conglomeration  of  ceremonial  abounding 
in  phrases,  the  non-observance  of  which  is  regarded  not  only 
as  marking  a  want  of  culture,  but  almost  as  a  sin.  China  is 
the  land  of  falsehood,  which  has  been  developed  in  both 
private  and  public  life  into  a  formal  system  of  deception. 
A  characteristic  of  China  is  the  large  number  of  towns  (17,000), 
of  which  a  considerable  percentage  have  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  even  over  a  million,  of  inhabitants. 

253.  The  language  consists  of  a  limited  number — in  the 
Canton  dialect  731,  in  the  Peking,  which  is  the  most  blunted, 
only  408 — of  purely  monosyllabic  base-sounds  or  base-words, 
which  are  multiplied  by  combination,  and  by  means  of  various 
intonation — there  are  as  many  as  nine  tones — receive  a  very 
manifold  sense.  But  even  these  multiplied  sounds  express  a 
still  greater  number  of  words  in  part  precisely  of  the  same 
utterance,  which  are  discriminated  in  writing  by  different 
signs,  and  in  speech  by  the  connection  or  by  the  addition  of 
auxiliary  words  or  synonyms. 

In  the  whole  immense  Empire  not  only  is  one  language 
spoken,  but  there  are  some  nine  principal  dialects,  whose  differ- 
ences are  so  great  as  to  make  them  mutually  unintelligible.  But 
China  has  only  one  script,  which  is  explained  by  the  fact  that 
the  script  does  not  consist  of  signs  of  sound,  but  of  word-signs. 
This  unity  of  script  has  the  advantage  that  it — like  the  Arabic 
numerals — abolishes  the  differences  of  language  for  the  eye, 
but  it  has  the  disadvantage  of  requiring  a  great  overburden  of 
memory  work  for  the  reading  and  writing  of  Chinese,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  multitude  of  characters  used,  and  proves  in 
this  way,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  an  important  hindrance  to 


336  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

intellectual  progress.1  This  is  indeed  an  evil,  which  cannot  he 
got  rid  of  without  a  breach  with  the  whole  history  of  China. 
It  is  quite  conceivable,  and  therefore  also  probable,  that  at  the 
time  the  Chinese  classics  originated  the  difference  of  the  sounds 
was  so  great,  that  these  writings  as  they  were  then  read,  i.e. 
pronounced,  expressed  the  then  spoken  speech.  Now,  however, 
that  is  nowhere  the  case,  and  therefore  they  cannot  be  intelli- 
gently reproduced  by  a  script  based  only  on  sound.  In  such  a 
script,  indeed,  the  spoken  dialects  can  be  written,  and  the 
Bible  has  been  translated  and  printed  in  different  vernacular 
dialects  in  Eoman  letters,  with  the  addition  of  (as  many  as 
nine)  tonal  marks.  But  what  is  written  as  the  written 
language  of  China,  its  book-style,  from  the  oldest  classics 
down  to  the  newspapers  of  to-day,  is  not  intelligible  through 
the  ear  (by  reading  aloud  in  any  provincial  dialect),  but  only 
through  the  eye. 

254.  There  are  in  China  three  religions, — the  moral  system 
of  Confucianism,  the  originally  mystical  Taoism,  which  has 
now  degenerated  into  superstitious  witchcraft,  and  the  cere- 
monial Buddhism,  introduced  in  the  first  century  after  Christ. 
These  are,  however,  so  intermingled  that  it  is  quite  impossible 
to  give  even  approximate  statistics  of  the  number  of  their 
adherents.2  No  one  knows  where  one  religion  stops  and 
another  begins,  for  individual  people  adopt  as  much  of  each 
religion  as  suits  them.  The  Chinese  are  practical  religious 
eclectics.  All  of  them  reverence  Confucius,  regulate  their 
life — to  a  certain  extent — according  to  his  precepts,  and  are 
devoted  to  ancestor-worship;  all  have  recourse,  especially  in 
sickness  and  need,  to  the  magical  arts  and  superstitious  hocus- 
pocus  of  the  Taoists ;  and  almost  all  commend  their  souls  at 
death  to  the  Buddhist  priest,  have  masses  read  for  the  soul, 
and  make  use  of  the  Buddhist  burial  ceremonial.  The  polite 
man  says  to  the  man  of  a  different  belief,  and  the  enlightened 
man  who  no  longer  believes  anything  repeats  it :  "  The  three 
doctrines  come  to  the  same  thing  in  the  end."  Indeed,  here 
and  there  temples  of  the  three  doctrines  have  been  erected, 
in  which  Laotse,  the  father  of  the  Tao  doctrine,  and  Buddha 
are  enthroned  on  the  right  side,  and  Confucius  on  the  left. 
These  three  religions  exist,  not  side  by  side,  but  rather  inter- 
mingled, on  quite  friendly  terms,  although  there  have  been 
times  in  the  past  when  they  waged  bitter  war  with  each  other. 

1  Kaug-hi's  great  lexicon  contains  44,449  characters,  of  which,  however, 
only  10,000  to  15,000  occur  in  current  literature.  In  the  nine  canonical  books 
of  classical  literature  there  are  only  4601  characters. 

L'  Smith,  as  quoted,  chap.  xxvi.  "  Buddhism  and  Taoism  in  their  Popular 
Aspects,"  in  the  Records  of  the  Central  Conference  at  Shanghai,  1877,  p.  62. 


asia  337 

To  speak  of  all  the  Chinese  as  Buddhists  is  a  scientific  error 
which  ought  to  be  put  away  once  for  all.  At  bottom  they 
are  much  rather  Confucianists,  in  spite  of  the  Buddhist  tinsel 
with  which  they  deck  themselves, — a  tinsel,  moreover,  that  is 
quite  foreign  to  the  original  character  of  Buddhism.  Con- 
fucianism is  the  State  religion ;  the  Emperor,  as  the  Son  of 
Heaven,  is  its  pojitifex  maximus ;  the  official  class  constitutes 
its  priesthood,  so  to  say ;  at  any  rate,  religion  and  politics  or 
State  administration  are  closely  bound  up  together.  But  the 
religion  which  really  dominates  China  is  the  worship  of  ances- 
tors, which  is  connected  with  "  filial  piety,"  with  the  concep- 
tion of  the  state  after  death,  and  with  the  so-called  "  wind  and 
water  doctrine."  This  worship,  along  with  self -righteousness, 
a  worldly  spirit,  and  the  hatred  felt  towards  foreigners,  is  the 
chief  hindrance  to  the  extension  of  Christianity.  There  are 
also  in  China  a  considerable  number  of  Mohammedans, — nearly 
30  millions,  it  is  said ;  the  bulk  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  the 
western  provinces,  especially  in  Yunnan. 

255.  According  to  tradition,  Christianity  was  made  known, 
as  in  India,  so  also  in  China,  by  the  Apostle  Thomas.  What 
is  a  fact,  however,  is  that  in  the  seventh  century  there  were 
Nestorians  in  China,  who  also  engaged  in  mission  work,  and 
that  with  not  unimportant  success.  The  proof  of  this  is  found 
in  the  undoubtedly  genuine  monument,  discovered  in  1625  in 
Si-rgan-fu  in  the  province  of  Shensi,  and  known  under  the 
name  of  the  Nestorian  monument.  The  inscription  upon  it, 
besides  certain  dogmatic  and  doxological  parts,  contains  the 
following  short  history :  A  monk  named  Olopun  came  in  the 
year  635  to  China  with  sacred  books  and  proclaimed  a  new 
doctrine,  whose  dissemination  was  expressly  allowed  by  an 
edict  of  the  Emperor  Tai-tsung  of  the  house  of  Tang.  Also 
the  building  of  a  church  took  place  with  his  consent.  In 
spite  of  occasional  persecution,  the  Christians  were  protected 
by  the  Emperors  down  to  Teh-tsung,  during  whose  reign,  in 
the  year  781,  the  monument  was  erected.  The  toleration  of 
Christianity  lasted  until  845.  Then  an  edict  of  the  Emperor 
Wu-tsung  commanded  the  prevention  by  force  of  its  further 
dissemination,  and  at  this  time  presumably  the  monument 
was  buried  in  order  to  preserve  it  from  destruction. 

It  would  seem,  however,  that  Nestorianism,  though  in  its 
doctrine  silent  concerning  the  kernel  of  the  Gospel,  survived 
this  stroke  for  a  considerable  time,  for  not  only  does  the 
well-known  merchant,  Marco  Polo  of  Venice,  mention  in  his 
famous  history  of  his  travels  that  he  (in  the  second  half  of 
the  thirteenth  century)  met  Nestorian  Christians  in  China, 
but  also  the  Franciscan  monk  Johannes  von  Monte  Corvino, 

22 


338  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

who  laboured  as  a  missionary  in  China  from  1292  until  his 
death  in  1328,  repeatedly  makes  mention  in  his  letters  of  the 
Nestorians  as  his  antagonists,  who  had  fallen  away  from  Chris- 
tian truth.     After  this  they  disappear  from  history. 

Johannes  von  Monte  Corvino  seems  to  have  had  his  residence 
in  Peking,  then  called  Kambalu,  and  to  have  been  held  in 
esteem  by  the  Mongolian  Emperor.  In  1307  he  was  actually 
designated  Archbishop  of  Kambalu ;  he  had  colleagues  asso- 
ciated with  him,  and  is  said  to  have  baptized  thousands.  In 
1638,  when  the  Ming  dynasty  came  to  power,  the  protection 
of  the  Christians  ceased ;  in  consequence  of  the  confusion 
created  by  the  victories  of  Tamerlane,  the  way  to  China  was 
barred,  and  China  itself  passed  out  of  the  view  of  the  West. 

A  permanent  Eoman  Catholic  Mission  first  began  with 
the  entrance  of  the  Jesuits  into  China  two  centuries  later, 
of  which  afterwards. 

256.  China  was  closed  to  evangelical  missions  till  almost  the 
middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  consequence  of  a  policy 
which  excluded  foreigners  from  the  country.  The  London  mis- 
sionaries Morrison1  and  Milne,  indeed,  who  were  sent  out  in  1807 
and  1813,  stayed  in  Macao  and  Malacca,  and  also  secretly  in 
Canton,  and  did  valuable  work  in  connection  with  the  language, 
translating  the  whole  Bible  into  Chinese ;  they  did  not,  how- 
ever, accomplish  any  aggressive  mission  work.  And  at  first 
no  greater  success  was  attained  either  by  Bridgman,  a  mission- 
ary of  the  American  Board  who  settled  in  Canton  in  1830, 
or  by  the  enthusiastic  Gutzlaff,  a  disciple  of  Janicke,  who,  after 
leaving  the  Netherlands  M.  S.,  began  in  1831,  on  the  borders 
of  China,  an  untiring  independent  missionary  work,  carried 
on  by  word  and  writing,  while  he  was  engaged  as  interpreter 
in  various  ships  and  as  secretary  to  the  Embassy,  till  it  was 
permitted  him  to  attempt  a  mission  in  China  itself  (Canton), 
practically  by  means  of  Chinese  evangelists.  The  undertaking, 
however,  miscarried,  because  the  credulous  man  allowed  him- 
self to  be  shamefully  deceived  by  these  Chinese. 

It  is  true  that  some  first-fruits  of  China  were  baptized  by 
these  pioneers,  and  probably  there  were  before  1842  more 
than  the  traditional  six  baptisms.  But  this  preliminary  work 
cannot  be  called  an  organised  mission.  The  mission  era  proper 
only  began  after  the  treaty  of  Nankin  in  1842,  which  put  an 
end  to  the  infamous  Opium  War,  and  compelled  China  to  open 
5  ports, — Shanghai,  Ningpo,  Foochow,  Anioy,  and  Canton — to 
commerce,  and  to  cede  Hongkong  to  England. 

1  Arf  Morrison  embarked  for  China  he  was  mockingly  asked:  "And  you 
would  convert  the  Chinese?"  He  answered:  "No,  not  I  ;  but  I  expect  that 
God  will." 


ASIA  339 

257.  The  Opium  War,  which  of  course  had  also  other  causes 
than  the  enforced  introduction  of  opium,  is  still,  like  the 
opium  trade,  a  blot  on  the  British  flag.  The  fact  that  China 
was  opened  up  as  the  result  of  an  act  of  injustice,  which  com- 
pelled the  Chinese  Government,  in  spite  of  their  protest,  to 
legalise  the  importation  of  opium,  cast  from  the  beginning 
a  dark  shadow  on  Christian  missions,  which  made  use  of 
this  opening  to  get  a  footing  in  the  country.  We  have  here 
one  of  the  most  striking  examples  of  the  manner  in  which  com- 
mercial and  colonial  politics  are  at  one  and  the  same  time 
a  pioneer  and  a  hindrance  to  missions.  Till  this  day  missions 
in  China  stand,  as  it  were,  under  a  ban,  because  they  are 
always  connected  with  the  unjustly  enforced  introduction  of 
opium,  which  is  used  with  a  certain  show  of  right  to  justify 
attacks  upon  them.  England's  selfishness  has  indeed  been 
punished,  for  now  that  filthy  and  pernicious  trade  has  gone 
back  so  much  that  the  cultivation  of  opium  in  India  has 
ceased  to  be  profitable.  Unfortunately,  however,  China,  hav- 
ing become  accustomed  to  the  vice,  is  now  growing  opium  for 
itself  to  an  ever  -  increasing  extent.  The  first  Opium  War 
was  followed  by  a  second  in  1856,  in  which  France  also  joined, 
ostensibly  for  the  protection  of  the  Catholic  missionaries. 
This  was  brought  to  a  close  by  the  treaty  of  Tientsin  in  185S, 
which  enforced  the  opening  of  9  more  ports  and  the  grant- 
ing of  religious  freedom  to  both  Catholic  and  evangelical 
Christians.  A  third  war  followed  immediately,  which  ended 
in  1860  in  the  capture  of  Pekin  and  the  barbarous  de- 
struction of  the  Imperial  Summer  Palace.  Gradually  the 
number  of  open  ports  was  increased  to  24.  And  so  by  force 
the  country  was  opened  to  foreigners,  but  the  heart  of  the 
people  was  so  much  the  more  firmly  closed  against  tliem  ;  and 
it  is  easy  to  understand  how  it  is  that  the  hatred  of  foreigners 
constitutes  a  main  feature  in  the  intercourse  of  the  Chinese 
with  the  Christian  West.  Unfortunately,  it  is  missions  that 
have  most  to  suffer  from  this  hatred  of  foreigners,  which  is 
stirred  up  by  the  officials,  the  learned  class,  and  secret 
societies, — as  is  evidenced,  e.g.,  by  the  massacres  at  Tientsin 
in  1870,  in  the  Yangtse-kiang  Valley  at  the  end  of  the  Eighties, 
and  at  Kucheng  in  1895.  It  is  the  missionaries  who  are  most 
widely  scattered  throughout  the  land,  and  most  exposed  both 
to  calumnies  and  to  popular  attacks.  Not  unnaturally,  too, 
this  hatred  grows  in  proportion  to  the  violence  of  the  punitive 
measures  which  follow  these  murders,  and  the  more  these  are 
taken  advantage  of  for  the  attainment  of  selfish  political  ends. 
This  has  been  proved  in  a  startling  manner  by  the  awful 
events  of  the  year  1900.     Warships  are  fatal  agents  for  com- 


340  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

mending  the  religion  of  the  Cross,  whether  they  be  French  or 
English  or  German. 

258.  Thus  many  things  in  China  combine  to  make  the 
work  of  missions  difficult, — language,1  ancestor-worship,  con- 
servatism, a  materialistic  tendency  of  mind,  self-righteousness, 
national  pride,  and  hatred  of  foreigners.  But  moderate  results, 
therefore,  can  be  expected  after  not  much  more  than  50  years' 
labour,  during  which  the  number  of  workers  and  of  their 
fields  of  work  increased  only  very  gradually.  Once  it  seemed, 
indeed,  as  if  a  wide  door  were  about  to  be  opened  to  evangelical 
missions  as  by  storm,  when  in  1850  the  great  Taiping  Rebellion 
broke  out,  which  continued  till  the  middle  of  the  Sixties,  and 
would  probably  have  overthrown  the  Manchu  dynasty,  had 
not  English  and  American  officers — above  all,  C.  G-.  Gordon 
— been  in  command  of  the  imperial  troops.  At  the  head  of 
this  rebellion  was  Hung  Siu-tseuen,  a  visionary  influenced  by 
Christian  ideas,  who,  in  common  with  the  members  of  a  like- 
minded  "  Society  of  Worshippers  of  God,"  began  a  reforming 
movement  in  religion,  which,  as  it  acquired  a  political  character, 
soon  extended  victoriously  over  the  whole  empire.  But  the 
hopes  fixed  on  this  movement  at  the  beginning  by  sanguine 
friends  of  missions  were  not  fulfilled.  The  fantastic  doctrines 
of  the  guiding  prophet,  who  professed  to  be  a  younger  brother 
of  Jesus,  became  more  and  more  eccentric,  and  the  fanatical 
warfare  degenerated  into  the  most  barbarous  cruelties.  The 
course  of  the  movement  is  a  serious  warning  to  missions  of 
all  places  and  times  to  guard  against  alliance  with  all  forms  of 
fanaticism  which  mingle  together  Christianity  and  heathenism 
or  religion  and  politics. 

259.  The  opening  of  the  country  and  the  religious  liberty 
which  had  been  extorted  from  the  Chinese  were  taken  ad- 
vantage of  by  English,  American,  German,  and  at  a  later 
date  also  Scandinavian  missionary  societies,  in  order  to  set 
foot,  first  of  all,  on  the  southern  and  south-eastern  coast.  The 
Chinese  had  no  faith  in  the  unselfish  benevolence  of  the 
missionaries,  and  so  there  was  need  of  unspeakable  patience 
to  enable  them  to  comprehend  what  is  meant  by  "  We  seek 
not  yours,  but  you."  Even  the  whole  period  up  to  1860 — 
during  which,  apart  from  Hongkong,  it  was,  in  the  main,  only 

1  Not  only  is  the  Chinese  language  in  itself  not  easy  to  learn,  but  it  presents 
great  difficulties  for  the  translation  of  Christian  ideas,  such  as  sin,  holiness, 
repentance,  faith,  atonement,  reconciliation,  justification,  regeneration,  and 
oven  "spirit"  and  "God."  Not  yet  has  unanimity  been  reached  as  to  the 
most  suitable  Chinese  term  for  God.  But  in  91  per  cent,  of  all  Christian  hooka 
the  term  Shang-ti,  favoured  by  Legge,  Faber,  and  other  sinologues,  is  used.  — 
Chin.  Recorder,  1901-5. 


ASIA  341 

the  well-known  Treaty  Ports,  with  their  immediate  surround- 
ings, that  could  be  occupied — was  a  time  of  sowing  in  hope: 
in  1860  there  were  some  1200  adult  evangelical  Christians. 
Only  in  the  period  from  1860  to  1900,  in  which  year  the 
third  period  of  evangelical  missions  ended  with  a  castastrophe 
more  bloody  than  any  that  had  gone  before,  were  all  the  18 
provinces  of  the  great  empire  gradually  drawn  into  the  domain 
of  evangelical  missionary  activity  by  the  agency  of  a  steadily 
increasing  missionary  corps.  At  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury there  were  in  the  service  of  some  40  evangelical  missionary 
societies,  1100  missionaries,  of  whom,  however,  only  about  the 
half  were  ordained,  124  men  and  about  59  women  physicians, 
and  713  unmarried  women  missionaries.1  Particularly  charac- 
teristic of  the  Chinese  mission  is  the  disproportionately  large 
number  of  women  workers — 713,  in  addition  to  750  wives 
of  missionaries.  The  introduction  of  women  in  such  large 
numbers  into  mission  service,  even  as  itinerant  evangelists, 
is  due  mainly  to  the  growing  influence  of  the  China  Inland 
Mission,  which  was  originated  by  Hudson  Taylor  in  1865. 
This  mission  generally  is  of  epoch  -  making  significance  in 
the  missionary  history  of  China,  not  merely  because  of  its 
principles  of  evangelisation,  but  because  it  moved  its  field  of 
work  from  the  coast  into  the  interior,  and  set  before  it  as  its 
aim  to  bring  the  Gospel  to  all  the  provinces  unoccupied,  or  but 
slightly  occupied,  by  other  societies.  Up  to  the  present  this 
aim  has  been  so  far  attained,  that  the  numerous  men  and 
women2  representatives  of  the  mission  are  at  work  in  15 
provinces  of  the  empire,  mainly  as  itinerant  preachers.  Other 
societies,  however,  have  also  pressed  into  the  interior  of  China, 
although  these  are  engaged  for  the  most  part  in  the  coast 
provinces  up  to  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chi-li,  to  the  south  of  the 
great  wall. 

From  the  beginning  much  attention  has  been  devoted  to 
the  enlisting  of  native  helpers.  This  has,  indeed,  not  been  so 
rapid  as  was  dreamed  by  the  sanguine  Gutzlaff,  whose  bands 
of  Chinese  evangelists  furnished  such  painful  disillusionment 
to  the  Basel  and  Barmen  missionaries  sent  out  at  his  instiga- 

1  China  Mission  Handbook,  Shanghai,  1896,  which  gives  for  the  first  time 
a  bird's-eye  view,  as  comprehensive  as  it  is  trustworthy,  of  evangelical  mission 
work  in  China,  arranged  according  to  societies.  The  introductory  religio- 
historical  part  is  also  of  value.  See  also  Beach's  Dawn  on  the  Sills  of  T'ang  ; 
or,  China  as  a  Mission  Field,  New  York,  1898. 

2  In  1899,  811,  including  wives  of  missionaries.  In  the  statistics  no  dis- 
tinction is  made  between  ordained  and  unordained  missionaries,  between  men 
and  women,  or  between  single  and  married  women.  According  to  Beach,  the 
staff  in  1897  consisted  of  30  ordained,  296  lay  missionaries,  297  unmarried 
women,  and  176  married  women. 


342 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


tion.  China  must  indeed  be  converted  by  the  Chinese,  but 
of  course  only  by  those  who  have  been  converted  first  them- 
selves. In  1893  there  were  already  252  ordained  Chinese 
pastors,  and  almost  3000  native  evangelists,  teachers,  colpor- 
teurs, etc.  Among  these  there  were  a  goodly  number  of 
proved  men,  but  hardly  any  yet  of  definite  historical  import- 
ance. In  1898  there  were,  in  round  numbers,  5000  native 
helpers  of  both  sexes. 

260.  As  regards  the  statistical  results  of  evangelical  missions 
in  China,  the  number  of  communicants  at  the  end  of  1898  was, 
roughly,  100,000 ;  so  that  the  gross  total  of  all  the  evangelical 
Christians  in  China  before  the  Boxer  outbreak  may  be  assumed 
to  be  at  least  215,000.1  These  numbers  were  divided  among 
526  chief  stations  and  2300  out-stations.  There  were  2000 
mission  schools  in  existence,  but  the  whole  number  of  scholars 
was  only  37,600.  The  main  increase  has  taken  place  in  the 
course  of  the  last  decade.  The  traditional  assertion  that 
Chinese  missions  have  been  unfruitful  is  an  error.  Of  evan- 
gelical church  members  eligible  for  communion,  there  were 
in  1853,  351;  in  1863,  1974;  in  1873,  9715;  in  1883,  21,560; 
in  1893,  55,093;  and  in  1898,  99,281.  There  is  thus  progress. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Christians,  it  is  true,  belong  to 
the  country  population  and  to  the  classes  without  a  literary 
education  :  they  are  widely  scattered,  and  are  divided  variously 
among  the  different  provinces.  The  following  table  shows  the 
number  of  communicants  in  each  province  in  1898  : — 


Fo  -  kien  (including 

For- 

Shen-si 

600 

mosa)     . 

.     28,700 

Ho-nan 

500 

Kwang-tung 

.     15,0002 

Ngan-whi  . 

500 

Shan-tung 

.     12,500 

Kan-su 

400 

Che-kiang 

.       9,250 

Hoo-nan     . 

80 

Chi-li  or  Pe-clii-li 

.       8,000 

Kwai-chow 

80 

Hoo-pe 

.       4,650 

Yun-nan     . 

15 

Kiang-su  . 

.       4,570 

Kwang-si  . 

(?) 

Shan-se 

.       1,850 

Manchuria,    province    of 

Kiang-si    . 

.       1,550 

Shing-king 

9,900 

Se-chuen  . 

.       1,100 

Of  the  various  missionary  societies,  the  following  had,  in 


1  In  the  year  1895  there  were  in  the  province  of  Fo-kicn,  18,767  communi- 
cants and  54,916  Christians.  In  1899,  in  the  same  province,  the  C.  M.  S. 
alone  reckoned  4155  communicants  and  8949  baptized  persons  (exclusive  of 
11,812  catechumens).  Often,  it  is  true,  the  proportion  is  only  that  of  2  to  3. 
On  the  whole,  the  number  of  communicants  may  at  least  bo  doubled  in  order 
to  get  at  the  number  of  Christians. 

2  The  Chine  e  Recorder,  1900,  p.  536,  gave  the  number  as  18,430.  Ami  in 
other  provinces  the  numbers  had  increased,  though  not  perhaps  in  the  same 
degree,  up  to  the  catastrophe  in  1900. 


ASIA 


343 


1899  or  1898,  as  the  case  may  be,  the  largest  number  of  com- 
municants : — 


American  Episcopal  Methodists 
American  Presbyterians 
United  Presbyterians  (now 

of  Scotland) 
English  Presbyterians 
London  Missionary  Society 
China  Inland  Mission 
American  Board 
Church  Missionary  Society 
English  Baptists 
Basel  Missionary  Society 


United  Free  Church 


12,200 
9,750 

8,500 
6,300 
9,100 
8,500 
6,000 
5,850 
4,600 
4,100 


Of  the  quality  of  the  Chinese  Christians,  too,  one  hears 
much  that  is  good :  many  of  them  have  been  tried  by  fire,  and 
they  display  a  living  missionary  zeal.  There  may  be  not  a 
little  chaff  among  the  wheat,  but,  on  the  whole,  the  Chinese 
Christians  are  better  than  they  are  said  to  be. 

Besides  the  proclamation  of  the  Word,  particularly  in  the 
form  of  itinerant  preaching,  school  instruction,  and  extensive 
literary  work,  in  which,  besides  Medhurst,  Legge,  Giles,  Edkins, 
Williams,  Smith,  Griffith  John,  Martin,  Eichard,  and  others, 
Dr.  Faber,  who  died  in  1899,  took  an  outstanding  part,  and 
which  has  found  a  centre  in  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of 
Christian  and  General  Knowledge  among  the  Chinese,  instituted 
in  1887, — medical  missions  play  an  important  role  in  China 
(Parker,  Lockhart,  Hobson,  Kerr).  In  1898  there  were  185 
medical  missionaries  (126  men  and  59  women),  over  70  hospitals 
and  110  dispensaries, — a  great  ^equipment,  which  renders  much 
pioneer  service  to  missions,  but  is  also  repeatedly  used  as  the 
basis  of  the  most  senseless  complaints  against  the  missionaries, 
as  for  example  that  they  kill  children  and  use  their  organs 
to  make  medicine.  The  Bible  has  been  repeatedly  translated 
and  revised  in  Chinese.  Among  these  translations  the  most 
important  are  the  translation  into  Mandarin  and  the  transla- 
tion into  Wenli,  the  written  language  for  the  whole  Empire, 
first  completed  in  1902  by  Bishop  Schereschewsky,  of  the 
American  Prot.  Episc.  Church.1 

261.  A  new  epoch  in  Chinese  missions,  as  well  as  in  Chinese, 
history,  is  marked  by  the  year  of  terror,  1900.  The  so-called 
Boxer  Outbreak,  which  was  perhaps  not  exactly  stirred  up  by 
the  Chinese  Government,  but,  as  is  shown  by  documentary 
evidence,  was  patronised  by  it,  was  characterised  by  an  out- 
break of  hatred  to  foreigners  which,  after  the  murder  of  the 
German  ambassador,  threatened 2  the  whole  population  of  the 

1  Chin.  Recorder,  1903,  p.  148. 

2  Martin,  The  Siege  in  PeTcin:  China  against  the  World,  New  York.  1900. 
A..  Smith,  China  in  Convulsion,  Edin.  1901. 


344  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

embassies  with  death,  in  a  severe  siege  of  several  months' 
duration,  and  cost  the  lives  of  134  missionaries1 — including 
wives  of  missionaries  and  unmarried  lady  missionaries — and  52 
children  of  missionaries,  in  addition  to  other  Europeans.  This 
bloody  rising  against  the  foreigners  led  to  a  coalition  of  all  the 
Great  Powers  against  China,  which,  however,  owing  to  their 
mutual  jealousies,  and  in  face  of  the  cunning  Chinese  diplomacy, 
unfortunately  makes  little  impression,  not  to  speak  at  all  of 
the  misdeeds  of  the  soldiers,  which  are  a  discredit  to  the 
boasted  Christian  civilisation.  As  formerly  in  the  case  of 
the  Indian  Mutiny,  an  attempt  was  made  to  put  the  responsi- 
bility for  the  troubles  in  China  also  on  to  Christian  missions, 
and  almost  throughout  the  whole  world,  as  if  at  the  word  of 
command,  a  campaign  was  organised  against  them  in  the  press, 
which  not  only  made  the  most  senseless  charges  against  them, 
but  even  rose  to  the  expression  of  malicious  joy :  "  One  would 
almost  be  glad  if  the  missionaries  were  put  to  death  by  the 
Chinese."  Now,  indeed,  this  fit  of  frenzy  has  pretty  well 
passed  away,  and  public  opinion  has  gradually  sobered  down  to 
this  conviction,  that  the  chief  causes  of  the  awful  catastrophe 
— not  to  speak  of  all  the  other  provocations  given  by  foreigners 
to  the  Chinese — lay  partly  in  the  Chinese  policy  of  Europe,  and 
partly  in  the  Chinese  reactionary  movement  against  the  reform 
policy  of  the  young  Emperor  Kwang  Su,  and  that  the  latest 
occupations  of  territory,  alike  in  North  and  South  China,  by 
the  Germans,  Kussians,  British,  and  French,  the  projects  for 
the  partition  of  China  by  the  Western  Powers,  which  rose  to 
the  wildest  rumours,  and  the  railway  and  mining  undertakings, 
which  stirred  up  the  superstitious  population,  in  combination 

1  Concerning  this  fearful  slaughter,  which  has  nothing  to  compare  with  it 
in  the  history  of  modern  missions,  see  Broomhall,  Martyred  Missionaries  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission,  with  a  Record  of  the  Perils  and  Sufferings  of  some  who 
Escaped,  London,  1901.  Miner,  China's  Book  of  Martyrs,  New  York,  1904. 
Forsyth,  The  Chinese  Martyrs  of  1900,  New  York,  1904.  Of  the  134  adult 
members  of  the  missionary  corps  who  were  murdered,  58  belonged  to  the  China 
Inland  Mission  alone,  26  to  the  Alliance  Mission,  13  to  each  of  the  American 
Board  and  the  English  Baptists,  and  5  to  the  American  Presbyterians.  The 
greatest  bloodshed  took  place  in  the  provinces  of  Shan-si,  (157,  including  chil- 
dren), Clii-li  (17)  and  Che-kiang  (11) :  in  Shan-si,  it  was  the  governor  himself, 
Yu-Hsien,  notorious  for  his  fanatical  enmity  to  foreigners  and  Christians,  who 
brought  about  the  murders.  Ostensibly  to  protect  them,  or  to  send  them  to 
the  coast  under  his  protection,  this  man  of  blood  invited  all  the  foreigners  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  hi9  residence  at  Tai-yuen-fu,  into  his  Yarnen.  and  then 
caused  them  to  be  murdered  ;  of  the  number  were  33  members  of  the  Evan- 
gelical, and  10  members  of  the  Catholic,  missionary  staff,  and  40  native  Chris- 
tians. The  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  were  compelled  to  flee  from 
Fuen-chow,  and  were  then  killed  by  the  military  escort,  by  command  of  the 
governor.  In  Pao-ting-fu  he  caused  all  connected  with  the  Evangelical  mission 
(11  persons)  to  be  massacred.  No  complete  record  is  to  be  had  as  yet  of  the 
number  of  Chinese  Christians  whose  lives  have  been  sacrificed  :  it  is  beyond 
doubt,  however,  that  it  amounts  to  thousands. 


asia  345 

with  all  kinds  of  social  and  industrial  distress  in  the  Middle 
Kingdom,  gave  the  last  impulse  for  the  outbreak  of  the  revolt. 
So  far  as  missions  incur  reproach,  this  falls  mainly  on  the 
Catholic  missions,  which,  because  of  their  alliance  with  French 
power,  always  assume  a  challenging  attitude,  and  often  interfere 
with  administration  ;  while  in  1898  they  also  brought  the  power 
of  Germany  into  their  service,  inasmuch  as  the  motive  assigned 
to  justify  the  occupation  of  Kiao-chow  was  that  it  was  an 
atonement  for  the  murder  of  two  German  Catholic  missionaries, 
and  "  a  necessity  for  the  continuance  of  Catholic  missions  in 
China."  The  method  of  conducting  the  Evangelical  missions 
is  doubtless  not  free  from  mistakes,  but  it  was  not  the  want  of 
sufficient  education,  which  is  made  a  reproach  to  some  of  the 
missionaries,  nor  the  employment  of  unmarried  ladies  in  the 
pioneer  and  evangelising  work  of  the  missions,  nor  the  numerous 
offences  against  Chinese  etiquette  and  custom  which  may  per- 
haps have  been  committed, — it  was  not  all  these  together  that 
occasioned  the  bloody  catastrophe  which  in  the  year  1900 
horrified  the  whole  world. 

The  Chinese  Christians  have  stood  the  fiery  test  in  a  sur- 
prising manner.  Naturally  there  have  been  recantations,  but 
comparatively  few  gross  recantations  and  complete  relapses 
into  heathenism  :  the  most  consisted  in  an  ambiguous  attitude, 
through  which  they  were  assured  of  protection  or  immunity. 
On  the  whole,  the  bloody  persecution  of  1900  has  fallen  out  to 
the  vindication  of  the  honour  of  the  Chinese  Christians  who 
had  been  so  often  stigmatised  as  hypocrites.  How  great  the 
number  of  martyrdoms  will  probably  never  be  established 
with  certainty ;  it  is  certain  that  they  run  into  thousands. 
And  what  is  still  more  surprising :  after  this  bloody  cata- 
strophe a  reaction  has  begun,  which  may  be  described  as 
nothing  less  than  the  opening  of  a  new  door  to  Christian 
missions.  Gradually  the  missionaries  have  almost  everywhere 
returned  to  their  stations,  which  had  been  partly  destroyed ; 
often  they  were  called  back  and  received  with  official  honours 
by  the  authorities;  in  many  cases  compensation  has  been 
voluntarily  made  to  them  for  the  losses  sustained.  Some 
societies,  notably  the  China  Inland  Mission,  have  declined  any 
compensation ;  others  have  applied  it  to  the  erection  of  Chinese 
schools;  others  have  received  it,  but  at  a  very  moderate 
estimate,  and  all  have  declined  to  receive  compensation  money 
for  the  murdered  missionaries — in  contrast  to  the  Eoman 
Catholic  Mission,  which  presented  exorbitant  claims  for 
damages,  and  demanded  expiatory  indemnities.  Since  the 
beginning  of  1902  there  has  been  in  many  parts  of  the  Empire 
a  crowding  to  the  missionaries,  so  that  applications  for  recep- 


346  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

tion  into  Christian  congregations  have  had  not  seldom  to  be 
refused,  because  of  doubt  respecting  the  purity  of  the  motive. 
In  any  case  the  losses  sustained  through  the  persecution  have 
not  only  been  covered,  but  the  number  of  communicants 
has  risen  in  1904  to  131,400,  and  that  of  the  missionaries 
(exclusive  of  women)  to  1370,1  belonging  to  67  missionary 
societies,  while  32  independent  missionaries  were  also  at 
work. 

The  remarkable  strengthening  of  the  missionary  staff  and 
the  energetic  resumption  of  missionary  work  are  due  to  the 
fact,  that  after  the  catastrophe  of  1900  a  movement  arose  in 
China,  which  seeks  the  reform  of  the  old  educational  system 
through  acquaintance  with  Western  science.  The  time  of  a 
contemptuous  ignoring  of  this  science  seems,  in  spite  of  many 
conservative  reactionary  movements,  to  be  definitely  coming  to 
an  end,  and  that  because  even  in  the  highest  places  it  is  im- 
possible any  longer  to  shut  out  the  humbling  perception  that 
without  the  appropriation  of  Western  culture  China  is  power- 
less against  the  threatening  powers  of  the  West.2  In  this 
movement,  which  is  calling  new  schools  into  life  and  creating 
an  increasing  desire  for  Western  literature,  Christian  missions 
see  an  opportunity  of  preparing  a  way  for  Christianity  in 
connection  with  the  need  of  a  modern  education,  and  this  all 
the  more  that  Japan  is  eagerly  and  successfully  offering  her 
services  as  leader  to  China.  Too  sanguine  hopes,  however, 
must  not  be  entertained  on  account  of  this  possibility,  for 
when  China  opens  to  Western  science,  it  does  not  thereby  open 
to  Christianity.  In  so  far  as  an  inner  moral  reform  is  in  view 
along  with  the  educational  reform  sought  after,  it  proceeds 
throughout  on  a  Confucian  basis.  There  is  also  no  small  danger 
that  the  missionaries  who  are  desired  for  educational  service 
may  purchase  their  influence  in  this  educational  activity  at 
the  cost  of  setting  in  the  background  the  essential  truths  of 
Christianity,  and  perhaps  of  compromising  them.  In  any  case 
China  stands  at  the  beginning  of  an  era  of  reform — presumably 
not  so  stormy  in  its  course  as  that  in  Japan — which  makes 
high  demands  on  Christian  missions  on  both  sides,  on  the  one 
hand  to  redeem  the  present  opportunity,  and  on  the  other  to 
observe  with  all  humble  carefulness  the  temptations  which  it 

1  Missionary  Review,  1905,  p.  750,  from  which  also  are  taken  the  statistical 
figures  given  for  the  individual  provinces  in  the  following  pages. 

2  The  strongest  and  most  influential  expression  of  this  conviction  has  been 
given  by  the  respected  and  learned  viceroy  of  Hupeh  and  Hunan,  Chang  Chih 
Tung,  who  is  probably,  next  to  Li  Hung  Chang,  the  most  important  of  the 
principal  Chinese  dignitaries,  in  his  book:  China's  Only  Hope:  An  Appeal; 
translated  into  English  by  Missionary  Woodbridge,  with  an  explanatory  preface 
by  Missionary  Griffith  John,  Edinburgh,  1901. 


ASIA  347 

involves.  When  it  is  added  that  from  Japan  Buddhism  is 
making  great  efforts  to  propagate  itself  in  China,  it  seems  not 
unlikely  that  the  great  battle  of  Christian  missions  has  to  be 
fought  in  Eastern  Asia. 

262.  After  these  general  observations,  let  us  take  a  brief 
geographical  survey  of  the  great  Chinese  mission  field. 

In  the  little  British  island  of  Hongkong,  with  Victoria  its 
flourishing  capital  and  port  (260,000  inhabitants),  which  since 
1849  has  also  been  the  seat  of  an  Anglican  bishop,  as  many  as 
8  different  Evangelical  missions  have  settlements,  including  3 
German  missions:  the  Basel  Society,  the  Berlin  Women's 
Union,  and  the  Ehenish  stations.  The  total  number  of  their 
Chinese  Christians,  however,  is  not  considerable  (about  3000), 
possibly  because  the  population  fluctuates  too  much.  For  32 
years  there  laboured  here  the  missionary  Legge  of  the  L.  M.  S., 
one  of  the  greatest  Chinese  scholars,  who  made  for  himself  a 
lasting  name  by  his  translations  of  the  Chinese  classics  into 
English,  and  who  was,  at  his  death  in  1897,  professor  in 
Oxford.1 

In  close  proximity  to  the  British  island  of  Hongkong  lies 
Kwang-tung  (Canton),  the  most  southerly  of  the  18  provinces 
of  China,  with  its  capital  of  the  same  name.  It  was  the 
earliest  of  all  the  Chinese  mission  fields,  and  has  the  largest 
number  of  missionaries,  but  it  is  not  the  most  fruitful  field 
(29,000  communicants.  Among  its  population,  which  is 
estimated  at  32  millions,  the  Hakka  and  Hoklo  have  shown 
themselves  much  more  open  to  the  Gospel  than  the  Punti, 
while  the  comparatively  uncivilised  Miauts  have  been  as 
yet  little  sought  out  among  their  mountains.  With  the 
exception  of  Canton,  which  forms  the  centre  for  a  whole 
series  of  missionary  societies,  and  possesses  one  of  the  most 
renowned  mission  hospitals  (Dr.  Kerr),  the  principal  station  is 
Swatow,  where  the  ardent  Presbyterian  missionary  Burns  (d. 
1868,  "a  herald,  not  a  builder")  opened  up  the  way.  In  the 
south-east  and  central  east  of  the  province  the  Basel  Mission 
has  in  two  districts,  which  it  designates  lowland  and  highland, 
15  stations  with  over  8500  baptized  Christians  :  of  these,  Nyen- 
hanghli  and  Hinnen,  in  the  highland  district,  have  the  largest 
congregations.  In  1897,  Lechler,  one  of  the  pioneers  of  this 
mission,  was  able  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  his  missionary 
service,  which  has  been  greatly  blessed,  along  with  the  jubilee 
of  the  mission.  The  two  other  German  societies,  Berlin  I.  to 
the  north  and  east,  and  the  Ehenish  to  the  south-east  of 
Canton,  have  together  7000  scattered  Christians.  To  the  pro- 
vince of  Kwang-tung  belongs  also  the  large  island  of  Hainan, 

1  Chin.  Rec.t  1898,  p.  107,  "Rev.  Dr.  Legge." 


348  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

in  which  since  1885  the  North  American  Presbyterians  have 
found  a  productive  mission  field  at  Kiung-chow,  the  capital, 
and  at  Nodoa  (about  3500  church  members). 

The  most  fruitful  of  all  the  Chinese  provinces,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  is  Fo-kien,  which  joins  Kwang-tung  on  the 
north-east,  and  has  23  million  inhabitants.  Six  societies  are 
at  work  here,  and  of  these  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  the 
C.  M.  S.,  the  L.  M.  S.,  and  the  American  Board  have  the  largest 
number  of  adherents.  Not  only  did  the  Gospel  at  first  find 
little  entrance,  but  it  encountered  much  disturbance,  opposi- 
tion, and  even  bloody  persecution,  so  that  the  C.  M.  S.  even 
thought  of  withdrawing.  Again,  in  1895, 11  persons  connected 
with  their  mission  were  murdered  by  a  band  of  so-called 
Vegetarians  at  Kucheng.  But  for  a  considerable  time  before 
this  bloody  catastrophe  a  wide  door  had  been  opened  to 
Christianity  among  the  country  population,  under  the  energetic 
leadership  of  missionary  Wolfe,  and  particularly  by  means  of 
the  testimony  of  native  preachers  rejoicing  in  their  faith.  And 
since  the  massacre,  and  for  the  very  reason  that  the  C.  M.  S. 
declined  all  retaliation  on  the  part  of  the  British  Government, 
and  even  refused  any  payment  in  expiation,  a  Christian  move- 
ment has  begun  which  once  again  has  proved  the  truth  of  the 
old  saying,  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the 
Church.  This  movement  has  its  centre  chiefly  at  the  station 
of  Kucheng,  in  the  Fo-kien  district,  which  lies  north  of  the 
river  Min.  Outside  of  this  district  the  most  important  mission 
centres  are  Amoy,  Fuchow,  and  Hinghwa  (15,000  Christians). 
The  American  Episcopal  Methodists  have  in  their  two  districts 
(Fuchow  and  Hinghwa)  about  18,000 ;  the  L.  M.  S.  around  3 
principal  stations  (Amoy,  Chiang-chin,  Herian),  8000 ;  the 
American  Board  around  5  principal  stations  (Fuchow),  3000 
communicants ;  the  English  Presbyterians  (Amoy),  4500 ;  the 
American  Eeformed,  1800  church  members;  so  that  in  the  whole 
province  there  are  about  50,000  Christians  (30,000  commun.). 

The  island  of  Formosa,  formerly  belonging  to  the  province 
of  Fo-kien,  but  in  1895  surrendered  to  Japan,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  2,870,000,  ha3  proved  in  like  manner  a  fruitful  mission 
field.  Work  has  been  carried  on  there  since  1865  by  the 
English  and  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  in  brotherly  accord, 
under  the  leading  of  two  gifted  physicians,  Drs.  Maxwell  and 
Mackay,1  in  a  very  practical  fashion,  with  the  help  of  native 
Christians,  the  former  working  in  the  larger  southern  portion 
(chief  station  Taiwanfu),  the  latter  in  the  smaller  northern 
portion  (chief  station  Tamsui).     At  the  end  of  1894,  both 

1  Mackay,  From  Far  Formosa,  Edinburgh,  1896.     [Dr.  Mackay  died  in  June 
1901. — Ed.]     Johnston,  China  and  Formosa,  London,  1898. 


ASIA  349 

together  numbered  5300  baptized  Christians.  Upon  the 
Japanese  annexation  there  followed  at  first  a  time  of  unrest, 
which  arrested  the  progress  of  the  work,  and  had  for  its  eon- 
sequence  many  an  outrage  against  the  Christians  on  the  part 
of  the  rebels ;  but  very  soon  the  orderly,  strict  government  of 
the  Japanese,  which  introduced  one  improvement  after  another, 
and  liberated  the  mission  from  the  caprice  of  Mandarin  oppres- 
sion, proved  a  means  of  furthering  the  work.  At  the  end  of 
1902  the  number  of  baptized  persons  belonging  to  the  English 
Presbyterian  Mission  had  risen  to  4300,  and  over  10,000  were 
receiving  baptismal  instruction;  on  the  other  hand,  amongst 
the  Canadian  Presbyterians,  in  consequence  of  the  persecutions 
and  of  a  plague  which  claimed  large  numbers,  the  baptized 
had  only  increased  from  2600  to  2700.  On  all  sides  a  good 
testimony  is  borne  to  the  native  Christians,  and  specially 
praised  is  their  participation  in  charitable  activity  and  in  the 
extension  of  the  Gospel.  —  The  Japanese  immigrants  into 
Japan  (already  over  41,000)  are  being  faithfully  followed  after 
by  the  Japanese  Christian  churches,  who  send  preachers  and 
evangelists  to  them  for  longer  or  shorter  periods. 

On  the  north  of  Fo-kien  lies  Che-kiang,  a  fertile  province, 
and  specially  rich  in  water-ways,  but  which  was  much  de- 
populated by  the  Taiping  Rebellion ;  at  present  it  has  about 
11|  million  inhabitants.  The  ports  of  Ningpo  and  Hang-chow 
are  the  principal  centres  of  evangelical  missions,  which  are  here 
represented  mainly  by  American  Presbyterians  and  Baptists, 
the  English  Methodist  Free  Churches,  the  C.  M.  S.,  and  the 
C.  I.  M. ;  the  last  has  the  main  body  of  its  converts  here, — 
4000  communicants, — and  has  spread  most  widely  over  the 
whole  province.  Both  in  Ningpo  and  in  Hang-chow  there  are 
gathered  a  considerable  number  of  Christian  missionary  insti- 
tutions ;  and  a  whole  series  of  congregations,  larger  and  smaller, 
have  been  formed  within  these  cities,  as  well  as  at  places  within 
the  range  of  their  influence.  These  congregations  are  partly 
self-supporting,  and  are  energetic  in  mission  work.  Among 
the  workers  of  the  Anglican  mission  the  missionary  bishops 
Russell  and  Moule  have  especially  distinguished  themselves, 
the  former  in  particular  by  producing  important  translations 
in  the  language  of  the  people,  printed  not  in  Chinese  char- 
acters but  in  Roman  letters,  which  greatly  facilitated  the 
learning  to  read.  Altogether  there  may  now  be  20,000  evan- 
gelical Christians  in  the  province  (12,400  communicants). 

263.  In  the  meantime  we  pass  over  the  inland  provinces 
to  the  westward,  and,  keeping  along  the  coast  northward 
from  Che-kiang,  reach  the  important  industrial  province  of 
Kiang-su,  with  its  14  million  inhabitants.     The  mission  centre 


350  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

here  is  Shanghai,  the  chief  port  of  China  for  the  foreign  trade. 
It  is  the  seat  of  the  Anglican  missionary  bishop  of  Mid-China, 
as  well  as  of  the  extensive  literary  work  of  the  Educational 
Association  of  China,  and  is  the  centre  of  the  very  varied 
activity  and  administration  of  a  considerable  number  of 
English1  and  American  missionary  societies.  Apart  from 
Shanghai,  the  most  important  mission  posts  in  the  province 
are  at  Suchow,  a  beautiful  town,  but  wholly  given  up  to  the 
opium  vice,  at  Shin-kiang  and  at  Nan-kin,  which  was  from 
1853  to  1864  the  chief  city  of  the  Taiping  rebels,  and  in  which 
there  is  a  university  of  the  Episcopal  Methodists.  In  this 
province,  in  spite  of  diligent  labour,  the  direct  missionary  result 
shows  only  in  the  last  few  years  a  considerable  increase  (4700 
communicants). 

Shan-tung,  the  next  province  to  the  northward,  which  was 
the  home  of  Confucius,  Mencius,  and  Laotse,  has  a  population 
of  38  millions,  and  is  a  fruitful  mission  field.  Next  to  the 
American  Presbyterians,  who  have  6  chief  stations  (Cheefoo, 
Cheenan,  Weihien)  with  5000  full  church  members,  the  most 
successful  work  here  is  carried  on  by  the  English  Baptists, 
mainly  in  and  around  Ching-chow,  with  4800  members ;  the 
American  Board  in  Pang-chuang,  with  900 ;  and  the  English 
New  Methodists  in  Lao-ling,  with  2700.  The  total  number  of 
evangelical  Chinese  in  the  province  of  Shan-tung  is  about 
27,000  (14,200  communicants).  It  was  in  the  south  of  this 
province  that  the  murder  of  the  two  German  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries took  place  at  the  end  of  1897,  which  gave  the  occasion 
for  the  acquisition  of  the  Bay  of  Kiao-chow.  The  Berlin  (I.) 
Missionary  Society  and  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant 
Missionary  Union  at  once  entered  on  mission  work  here ;  the 
former  numbered  already  in  1904  400  baptized  Christians 
and  300  adult  candidates  for  baptism. 

The  most  northerly  of  the  18  provinces  of  China  proper  is 
Chih-li  or  Pe-chi-li,  with  a  population  of  21  millions,  which 
only  became  accessible  to  evangelical  missions  in  1860.  It 
is  a  mission  field  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  American  Board,  the 
American  Presbyterians,  the  Episcopal  Methodists,  the  C.  I.  M., 
and  the  Anglican  S.  P.  G.,  which  has  in  Pekin  a  bishop  for 
North  China.  All  these  together  had  in  their  congregations, 
prior  to  the  catastrophe  of  1900,  about  16,000  Christians  under 
their  care,  the  majority  of  whom  belonged  to  the  country 
population,  although  the  different  missionary  institutions  are 
concentrated  in  the  large  cities  of  Tientsin  (where  Dr.  Edkins 

1  The  China  Inland  Mission  has  its  headquarters  here;  but  the  training 
institutions  for  its  agents  are  in  Gangldn  for  males,  and  in  Yangchow  for 
women. 


ASIA  351 

of  the  L.  M.  S.  began  work  in  1861)  and  Pekin,  the  capital  of 
the  empire  (in  1904, 8500  communicants).  The  medical  mission 
in  this  province  exerts  unusual  influence,  and  it  enjoys  high 
repute  even  among  the  heathen.  To  the  north-east  of  Pekin, 
Gilmour,  the  zealous  missionary  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  set  on  foot 
a  Mongolian  mission  which  has  its  centre  at  Tassukow. 

264.  These  6  coast  provinces  are  the  oldest  and  most 
largely  occupied  part  of  the  Chinese  mission  field.  The  much 
greater  area  of  the  12  inland  provinces  has  been  occupied  much 
more  slightly,  and  only  since  the  Sixties  and  Seventies,  and  by 
slow  degrees.  In  the  two  provinces  of  Shan-si  (12  millions)  and 
Shen-si  (8|  millions),1  which  lie  to  the  west  of  Pe-chi-li,  in 
addition  to  the  English  Baptists  and  the  American  Board,  the 
C.  I.  M.  and  the  kindred  Swedish  China  (Alliance)  Mission, 
have  an  extensive  field  with  a  large  number  of  small  congrega- 
tions scattered  over  it,  with  altogether  2500  communicants. 
The  adjoining  province  of  Kan-su  (9  millions),  which  extends 
still  farther  westward,  although  much  traversed  by  the  mission- 
aries of  the  C.  I.  M.,  has  only  a  few  scattered  Christians  (about 
300).  In  the  province  of  Ho-nan  (35  millions),  too,  lying- 
southward  of  Shan-si,  there  are  only  a  few  small  congregations 
of  the  C.  I.  M.  and  of  the  Canadian  Presbyterians  (1000  com- 
municants). In  Se-chuen  (68f  millions),  on  the  other  hand,  to 
the  south  of  Shen-si  and  Kan-su,  not  only  the  C.  I.  M.,  but  also 
the  L.  M.  S.,  the  C.  M.  S.,  the  American  Board,  and  the  American 
Episcopal  Church,  have  a  fairly  extensive  and  not  unfruitful  field 
of  labour,  which  since  1901  offers  unlooked-for  opportunities  for 
the  diffusion  of  Christianity  (13,500  commun.).  To  the  east  of 
Se-chuen,  and  to  the  south  and  south-east  of  Ho-nan,  lie  the 
provinces  of  Hu-pe  (35  millions)  and  Ngan-whi  (23|  millions), 
which  borders  on  Kiang-su :  both  of  these  are  occupied  at 
numerous  points  by  the  C.  I.  M.,  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  Methodists, 
the  American  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Estab- 
lished Church  of  Scotland  (in  all  these  provinces  together 
11,000  commun.).  The  chief  stations  in  Hu-pe  are  Wu-chang, 
Han-kow,  opened  in  1861  by  Dr.  Griffith  John  of  the  L.  M.  S., 
and  I-chang,  on  the  Yangtse-kiang.  To  the  south  of  Nganwhi, 
and  to  the  east  of  Fo-kien,  we  come  to  the  province  of  Kiang-si 
(26^  millions),  which  is  largely  occupied  by  the  C.  I.  M.  (1700 
commun.).  In  Hunan  (21  millions),  which  borders  on  Kiang-si 
to  the  west,  and  which  is  specially  notorious  for  its  hatred 
of  foreigners,  the  missionaries  have  now  at  last  succeeded  in 
laying  the  foundation  of   some  Christian  congregations,  and 

1  In  Ssi-ngan-fu,  the  capital  of  this  province,  is  the  famous  monument, 
erected  in  the  year  781,  the  inscription  on  which,  in  Chinese  and  Syriac,  sets 
forth  the  success  of  the  old  Ncstorian  mission. 


352  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

since  the  catastrophe  of  1901  a  wide  door  has  been  opened. 
(670  commun.).  In  the  province  of  Kwai-chow  (7-|  millions), 
farther  to  the  west,  and  in  Yim-nan  (12|  millions),  the  province 
to  the  south  of  it,  the  C.  I.  M.  has  gained  200  communicants. 
But  a  considerable  number  of  small  congregations  have  been 
gathered  in  Kwang-si  (5  millions),  which  is  situated  between 
Yun-nan  and  Kwang-tung  (740  communicants). 

265.  Bordering  on  the  most  northerly  of  the  18  Chinese 
provinces  is  Manchuria,  divided  into  the  districts  of  Shenking 
(Feng-tien),  Kirin,  and  Heilung-kiang,  with  a  population  of 
8£  millions.  Under  the  capable  leadership,  since  the  early- 
Seventies,  of  Dr.  John  Eoss,  a  missionary  of  the  Scottish 
United  Presbyterians,  as  distinguished  as  a  linguist  as  he  is 
ingenious  and  sound  in  his  missionary  methods,  Manchuria 
has  become,  since  the  beginning  of  the  Seventies,  one  of  the 
most  hopeful  evangelical  mission  fields  of  China.  This  out- 
standing man  overcame  great  initial  difficulties,  and,  despite  a 
constant  struggle  with  base  Roman  intrigues,  he  has  succeeded 
in  extending  the  mission  from  Moukden  as  centre,  southwards 
to  Newchwang,  northwards  to  Kirin,  and  eastwards  to  Korea, 
and  has  established  10  chief  stations,  with  42  congregations, 
in  connection  with  which  over  8000  communicants  have  been 
gathered.  He  has  also  been  able  to  implant  a  living  missionary 
spirit  in  these  young  congregations,  and  to  procure  for  evan- 
gelical Christianity  universal  respect,  by  prudent  forbearance 
towards  justifiable  Chinese  peculiarities,  and  by  avoiding  all 
intermingling  of  the  mission  with  politics  and  with  the  pro- 
tection of  worldly  power.  Especially  after  the  war  with 
Japan  (1894),  which  fell  very  severely  on  Manchuria,  trying 
the  faith  of  the  Christians  as  by  fire,  and  giving  opportunity 
for  abundant  exercise  of  chanty,  the  Christian  movement 
assumed  such  dimensions  that  in  a  few  years  the  number  of 
full  church  members  increased  by  thousands.  As  early  as 
1874  the  Irish  Presbyterians  came  to  the  aid  of  the  Scottish, 
and  from  Newchwang  and  Kirin  as  centres  laboured  in 
brotherly  agreement  with  them,  and  according  to  the  same 
plan.  The  adult  communicants  connected  with  the  Irish 
mission,  the  number  of  whom  has  now  increased  to  6500,  are 
included  with  those  of  the  Scottish  mission  in  one  common 
presbytery.  The  Boxer  rising  in  1900,  which  brought  about 
a  bloody  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  Manchuria,  has, 
although  many  proved  faithful  unto  death,  considerably  dimin- 
ished the  number  of  Christians;  still  many  penitents  have 
gradually  been  received  back  into  the  congregations,  so  that 
in  the  end  of  1903  there  were  10,000  communicants  and  2000 
catechumens. — The  little  Danish  Mission,  begun  in  1895  on 


asia  353 

the  peninsula  of  Liaotung  (Port  Arthur),  has  from  the  be- 
ginning been  greatly  obstructed,  first  by  the  intolerance  of  the 
Russians,  and  afterwards  by  the  Russo-Japanese  war.  In 
1891  the  Anglican  Bishop  of  Korea  stationed  a  missionary  of 
the  S.  P.  G.  at  Newchwang  for  the  Europeans  there,  who  is,  at 
least  in  the  first  instance,  to  confine  his  work  to  the  English 
colony. 

266.  The  neighbouring  country  of  Korea1  was  till  recently 
shut  out  from  intercourse  with  the  world,  as  well  as  from 
evangelical  missions,  but  it  was  somewhat  shaken  out  of  its 
bad  economy  by  the  war  between  China  and  Japan,  and  it  has 
now  ridiculously  enough  been  raised  to  be  an  empire.  Even 
in  the  middle  of  the  Seventies  the  courageous  Ross  carried  the 
Gospel  into  Korea ;  and  to  him,  too,  we  owe  the  best  history 
of  the  country.  But  an  organised  and  permanent  evangelical 
mission  among  the  9|  million  Koreans  came  into  existence  only 
after  the  Americans  in  1882  had  forced  the  opening  of  the 
country.  The  pioneer  work  was  done  by  the  American  Pres- 
byterians, particularly  by  the  agency  of  Dr.  Allen,  a  medical 
missionary  who  enjoyed  the  favour  of  the  Court,  and  Dr. 
Underwood.  They  were  followed  by  Episcopal  Methodists 
(Dr.  Hall)  from  the  United  States,  and  by  the  Church  of 
England,  and  different  branches  of  the  Presbyterians.  A 
violent  persecution  was  courageously  endured,  and  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  Russo-Japanese  war  the  work  along  the  whole 
line  was  being  attended  with  blessing.  The  most  fruitful 
mission  centre,  next  to  Seoul,  the  capital,  the  port  of  Fusan 
in  the  south-east,  and  Chemulpo  in  the  west,  is  Pyengyang  in 
the  north.  Altogether  there  were  in  1903,  10,000  communi- 
cants and  21,000  catechumens.  The  well-known  traveller, 
Mrs.  Bishop  (Isabella  Bird),  speaks  in  the  most  enthusiastic 
language  of  the  surprising  results  of  the  mission  which  she 
has  seen  in  Korea,  especially  in  Pyengyang.  The  door  has 
here  been  opened  wide  to  evangelical  missions,  and  though 
disappointments  are  not  wanting,  yet  the  hope  of  a  great 
harvest  is  made  all  the  stronger  by  the  fact  that  the  Koreans 
themselves  are  taking  part  in  the  work.  In  the  Russo-Japanese 
war  the  poor  land  has  suffered  severely,  but  the  progress  of  the 
mission,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  now  be  greater  than  before 
the  war. 

Roman  Catholic  Missions.    Appendix  to  Section  4 

As  in  India  so  also  in  China,  Catholic  missions  have  the  advantage 
over    evangelical   missions    of   being   much   the   older.      Even    Xavier 

1  Mrs.  Bishop,  Corea  and  Tier  Neighbours,  London,  1896.  Miss.  Rev.,  1899, 
291,  "  Glimpses  of  Korea  "  ;  635,  "Korea,  Present  and  Future. " 

23 


354  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

intended  to  go  to  China  ;  lie  died,  however,  before  the  doors  of  the  closed 
fortress  on  the  island  of  Saucian  in  1552.  After  fruitless  eli'orts  on  the 
part  of  some  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  the  Jesuit  Roger  succeeded 
in  gaining  a  sure  foothold  in  the  province  of  Canton  in  1580,  and  in 
preparing  the  way  for  the  eminent  Ricci,  a  fellow-member  of  his  Order 
(1583-1610),  who  dared  to  go  to  Peking,  and  there  won  the  favour  of  the 
Emperor  by  his  great  mathematical  and  astronomical  gifts,  to  use  it  in 
winning  adherents  for  Catholicism  in  the  higher  circles  of  society.  Under 
his  successors  the  number  of  Catholics,  especially  in  the  province  of 
Kiaugsi,  is  said  to  have  risen  by  1617,  in  spite  of  much  persecution,  to 
13,000.  And  it  soon  rose  still  higher.  In  1619,  Pater  Schall  set  foot  in 
China,  the  most  important  of  the  many  capable  Jesuit  missionaries  to 
that  land.  He  too  was  a  distinguished  astronomer,  mathematician,  and 
engineer,  who  as  the  imperial  cannon  founder  rendered  opportune  service, 
and  on  that  account  stood  in  high  esteem  at  court.  Under  imperial 
favour,  Catholic  Christianity  made  such  progress  that  in  1650  the  number 
of  its  adherents  had  risen  to  150,000,  and  before  1564  even  to  300,000. 
But  on  the  death  of  the  imperial  patron  Shun-chi,  persecution  began. 
Charged  with  high  treason,  Pater  Schall,  with  three  fellow-members  of 
his  Order,  was  thrown  into  prison  in  1664  ;  he  was  soon  released,  but 
he  died  broken-hearted  in  1666.  After  him  the  principal  leader  of  the 
Jesuit  mission  was  Pater  Verbiest,  also  an  eminent  man  of  science  and 
technical  skill, — he  too  cast300  cannon, — who  arrived  in  Peking  in  1659,and 
died  there  in  1688.  When  the  sun  of  the  imperial  court  once  more  shone 
upon  the  fathers,  "  the  number  of  Christians  consequently  increased  once 
more  in  an  extraordinary  manner.  In  1670  there  were  3000  baptisms  in 
Peking  alone,  in  1671  there  were  20,000  conversions  np  and  down  China." 
Meanwhile,  after  an  interregnum  during  his  minority,  the  Jesuits' friend, 
Emperor  Kanghi,  ascended  the  throne.  He  granted  full  religious  liberty 
in  1692,  an  act  which  again  resulted  in  "  numerous  conversions."  "  In 
two  years  there  were  50,000  converts  baptized  in  Peking."  And  this 
Golden  Age  of  Jesuit  missions  in  China  lasted  almost  to  the  death  of 
Kanghi  (1722). 

Even  before  that  date,  however,  "an  accommodation  controversy," 
similar  to  that  in  India  about  the  toleration  of  caste,  had  broken  out  in 
China  about  the  veneration  of  Confucius  and  the  worship  of  ancestors. 
Even  Ricci,  and  after  him  Schall  and  Verbiest,  "contended  that  the 
veneration  paid  to  Confucius  and  one's  ancestors  was  of  a  purely  civic 
character";  whereas  the  other  Orders,  which  had  meanwhile  joined  in 
the  work,  especially  the  Dominicans  and  also  some  individual  Jesuits, 
"denounced  it  as  superstitious  and  heathenish."  As  in  India,  so  also 
here,  the  Popes  decided  more  and  more  unequivocally  against  the  Jesuits. 
The  controversy  lasted  till  1742,  when  Benedict  xiv.  put  an  end  to  all 
the  prevarications  of  the  Jesuits  by  the  panoplied  Bull  "Ex  quo  singu- 
lari."  And  as  in  India,  so  also  in  China,  the  sons  of  Loyola  rose  in 
opposition  and  began  to  intrigue.  The  worst  of  it  was  that  they  appealed 
from  the  Pope  to  the  Emperor  Kanghi,  who,  of  course,  expounded  the 
meaning  of  Chinese  customs  entirely  according  to  their  ideas.1 

From  that  time  the  tide  turned,  especially  under  Kanghi's  successors. 
The  papal  decrees  were  regarded  as  political  attacks  against  the  imperial 
power,  and  opposition  became  persecution,  in  which  much  blood  was 
spilt,  and  moreover  a  great  lapse  of  Christians  took  place.  Later,  when 
this  was  followed  by  the  dissolution  of  the  Jesuit  Order,  the  mission  so 
declined  that  even  in  1754,  according  to  Catholic  records,  "there  was 

1  As  to  this  controversy,  cf.  Warneck,  Prot.  Beleuchtung,  401.  As  to  the 
worship  of  ancestors,  cf.  Warneck,  Evang.  Missionslehre,  in.  Part  I.  p.  329. 


asia  355 

in  Peking  only  a  congregation  of  five  or  six  thousand  Christians  left,"  and 
"at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  entire  Chinese  mission 
consisted  of  but  3  Apostolic  Vicariates  (Shansi,  Sechuen,  and  Fukien), 
and  3  Bishoprics  (Peking,  Nanking,  and  Macao),  with  altogether  290,000 
Christians." 1 

Then  Catholic  missions  in  China  began  to  slowly  revive  in  the  third 
and  fourth  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  from  the  fifth  and  sixth 
they  have  steadily  gained  ground.  This  lias  happened  in  closest  con- 
junction with  French  politics,  and  has  led,  as  scarcely  anywhere  else,  to 
many  conflicts,  even  repeatedly  to  bloody  scenes,  and  has  contributed  not 
a  little  to  the  loading  of  Christian  missions  everywhere  in  China  with 
the  reproach  of  being  a  political  tool  of  the  hated  Western  Powers,  a 
reproach  which  was  emphasised  when  during  the.German  Protectorate  "  a 
firm  footing  in  Kiauchow  was  officially  declared  to  be  a  question  of  life 
and  death,  not  only  for  the  success  but  the  very  continuance  of  Chinese 
(Catholic)  missions."  In  particular,  much  offence  is  caused  by  Catholic 
missionaries  constantly  interfering  with  the  procedure  of  Chinese  law, 
by  either  arrogating  to  themselves  jurisdiction  over  their  adherents,  or 
causing  pressure  to  be  put  upon  the  Chinese  authorities  in  their  favour 
through  the  consuls.  This  intervention  in  the  law  courts,  on  the  one 
hand,  attracts  a  large  following  of  litigious  and  often  very  doubtful 
adherents,  and  on  the  other  causes  great  enmity  on  the  part  of  the 
Chinese  officials,  from  which  evangelical  missions  have  also  often  to 
suffer. — In  the  year  of  terror  of  1900,  Catholic  missions  also  suffered  much  : 
54  missionaries,  including  9  sisters,  lost  their  lives,  although  it  seems  to 
me  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  25,000  Catholic  Christians  were  murdered. 
The  indemnity,  or  rather  the  atonement  for  which  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment had  to  accept  obligation,  was  fixed  by  the  Catholic  missions  at  the 
exorbitant  sum  of  £1,500,000  ! 

Baumgarten  illustrates  the  progress  of  Catholic  missions  from  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  bv  the  following  statistics  : — 1800 
—202,000  Catholics;  1850— 330,000  ;  "1890— 576,000  ;  1900—762,000. 
Missiones  Catholim  gives  only  720,000  for  1900. 

Catholic  missions  have  spread  through  all  the  18  provinces  of  the 
Chinese  Empire,  as  also  over  the  annexed  territories  of  Tibet,  Manchuria, 
and  Mongolia.  They  are  divided  into  5  ecclesiastical  regions,  geographic- 
ally apportioned  as  follows  : — 

1.  Mongolia,  Manchuria,  Chih-li,  and  North  Honan  (8  Vicariates). 

2.  Shantung,  Shansi,  Shensi,  Kansu  (9  Vicariates). 

3.  Chiangsu,  with  Ngnanhwei,  Chehkiang,  Kiangnan,  Chiangsi,  South 

Honan,  Hunan,  and  Hupeh  (11  Vicariates). 

4.  Kweichan,  Szechwan,  Yunnan,  and  Tibet  (6  Vicariates). 

5.  Fukien,  with  Amoy  and  Formosa,  Kwangsi,  Kwangtung,  Hongkong 

(3  Vicariates  and  2  Prefectures). 

Besides  339  European  and  720  native  sisters,  there  are  at  work  90  + 
24  lay  (teaching)  brothers,  445  native  missionaries  and  942  European 
priests,  who  are  shared  by  the  10  missionary  agencies  as  follows  : — 

1.  The  Paris  Seminary  .         313  Priests  236,000  Catholics. 

2.  Jesuits     ....         168       „  169,000         „ 

3.  Franciscans     ...         126       ,,  109,500 

1  Up  to  this  point  I  have  been  guided  chiefly  by  a  new  Catholic  authority  : 
Anf  der  Heide,  priest  of  the  Society  of  the  Divine  Word,  Missionsgeschichte 
Chinas  imd  seiner  Nebcnlander,  Tibet,  Mangold,  u.  Mandschurci '■:  Tibet,  Mon- 
golia, Manchuria  (Steyl.  1897).  Baumgarten  estimates  the  figure  for  1800 
at  only  202,000  Catholics. 


356 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


4. 

Lazarists 

115  Priests 

128,500 

Catholics. 

5. 

Schentoelders 

81       „ 

30,000 

!> 

6. 

Dominicans    . 

43       „ 

42,500 

7. 

The  Milan  Seminary 

39      „ 

22,000 

)> 

8. 

Steylers 

33      „ 

15,000 

>> 

9. 

The  Rome  Seminary 

16       „ 

9,000 

,, 

10. 

Angnstinians 

8       „ 

200 

If 

Finally,  a  survey  of  the  state  of  Catholic  missions  in  the  various 
provinces  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  as  they  are  given  by  Baum- 
garten,  with  a  partial  increase  of  the  figures  given  in  Missiones  Catholiccv 
of  1901 :— 


1. 

Chihlf J 

,                  , 

Lz.  S.J. 

4  Vicariates 

128,000 

Catholics. 

2. 

Chiangsu,  with  Nguan- 
hui  (called  Kiangnan 

and  Nanking) 

, 

S.J. 

1  Vicariate 

130,000 

j  j 

3. 

Szecwan 

«                  , 

P.S. 

3  Vicariates 

95,000 

j) 

4. 

Kwantung  . 

• 

P.S.  M.S. 

/l  Prefecture) 
\1  Vicariate  / 

52,000 

»> 

5. 

Shantung     . 

Fr.  S.V.P. 

3  Vicariates 

48,000 

,, 

6. 

Fukien(ineludin< 

;Amoy) 

Dom. 

3         „ 

47,000 

,, 

7. 

Hupei 

. 

Fr. 

3 

35,000 

,, 

8. 

Shensi 

.         , 

Fr.  S.P.P. 

2         „ 

30,000 

,, 

9. 

Shansi          . 

#         , 

Fr. 

2 

23,000 

>) 

10. 

Chiangsi 

,         . 

Lz. 

3        „ 

23,000 

11. 

Kweichau     . 

, 

P.S. 

1  Vicariate 

20,000 

>j 

12. 

Honan 

.         , 

M.S. 

2  Vicariates 

15,000 

13. 

Chehkiang  . 

,         , 

Lz. 

1  Vicariate 

11,000 

,, 

14. 

Yunnan 

,         . 

P.S. 

1         „ 

11,000 

,, 

15. 

Hunan 

t         , 

Fr.  Aug. 

2  Vicariates 

6,000 

>> 

16. 

Kansu 

. 

Sch. 

1  Vicariate 

3,000 

>> 

17. 

Ewangsi      . 

,         . 

P.S. 

1 

2,000 

>> 

18. 

Mongolia 

,         . 

Sch. 

3  Vicariates 

28,000 

>) 

19. 

Manchuria   . 

. 

P.S. 

2         „ 

27,000 

>» 

20. 

Tibet  . 

• 

P.S. 

1  Vicariate 

1,600 

»» 

Total 


735,600  -  Catholics. 


In  Korea,  Catholic  missions  began  as  early  as  1784.  "  The  few 
Christians  living  in  that  country  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Bishop  of  Peking.  When,  however,  their  number  increased  and  persecu- 
tion set  in,  Korea  was  raised  in  1831  to  an  Apostolic  Vicariate  (Seoul), 
and  placed  under  the  charge  of  the  Paris  Seminary.  Numerous  bishops 
and  priests  and  a  great  as  yet  unspecified  number  of  Christians  have 
perished  under  the  persecutions  which  have  arisen  from  time  to  time." 

1  Baumgarten  mentions  only  3  Vicariates.  The  fourth,  which  in  Missiones 
Catholicce  is  called  "  Chihli  septentrioiialis  sen  Pekinensis,"  ho  includes  in 
North  Shensi,  which  must  be  an  error  on  his  part. 

2  The  German  Kath.  Miss,  reports  in  1904,  p.  100,  783,000  Chinese  Catholics. 
Even  in  1000  they  had  numbered  763,758.  It  will  not  be  an  underestimate  if 
we  reckon  around  750,000  Catholics  for  1903-1904.  In  reviewing  these  figures, 
it  must  bo  remarked  that  Catholic  missionaries  baptize  numerous  heathen 
children.  As  to  how  numerous  these  baptisms  are,  let  me  give  but  one  example. 
The  Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith  report  (cf.  1904,  p.  334)  that  the 
missionaries  of  the  Paris  Seminary  alone  baptized,  between  1800  and  1850,  besidi 
250,000  adults,  8,244,700  heathen  children  ;  and  between  1850 and  1904,  beside- 
084,000  adults,  9,260,667  heathen  children.  The  majority  of  these  were  at  the 
point  of  death,  but  tens  of  thousands  musi  have  lived.  At  all  events  very 
many  children  of  heathen  parents  are  baptized,  and  not  only  in  China,  but  all 
over  the  Catholic  mission  held,  especially  in  Asia. 


asia  357 

(Baumgarten).  During  the  last  decades,  however,  the  mission  has  de- 
veloped relatively  quietly.  The  statistical  returns  as  to  the  present 
state  of  things  do  not  tally.  The  highest  number  of  Catholics  reported 
is  42,450,  * 


Section  5.  Japan 

267.  From  Korea  our  survey  brings  us  to  the  last  of  the 
Asiatic  mission  fields,  Japan, — the  Land  of  the  Rising  Sun 
(Nippon).2 

This  "  Great  Britain  of  Asia,"  with  its  energetic  population 
numbering  about  45  millions, consists  of  four  main  islands,  moun- 
tainous and  mostly  volcanic,  stretching  from  north  to  south, — 
Yesso  (Hokkaido),  Hondo,  Shikoku,  and  Kiushiu, — with  a  large 
number  of  small  islands.  Hondo  is  the  largest  island,  and  con- 
tains the  most  important  towns.  The  country  has  an  ancient 
history.  Its  ruling  family  is  the  oldest  in  the  world,  having 
held  power  since  600  B.C.,  and  the  present  Mikado  or  emperor 
is  the  123rd  ruler  in  direct  descent  from  Jimmu  Tenno,  the 
divine  progenitor  of  the  family.  While  the  Chinese  emperor 
enjoys  divine  honours  in  virtue  of  his  office,  which  is  not 
attached  to  his  family,  in  Japan,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the 
office  of  the  emperor  that  is  made  sacred  by  the  person  of  the 
Mikado.  The  imperial  dignity  is  here  bound  up  with  the 
dynasty,  which  is  invested  with  heavenly  honour,  and  it  can 
be  transmitted  to  no  other  family. 

Even  during  the  period  of  almost  1000  years,  when  the 
power  of  government  really  belonged  to  the  aristocracy,  the 
Daimios,  or  Samurais,  and  then  was  concentrated  in  the  hands 
of  the  Shogun,  it  could  not  be  said  that  Japan  had  two  rulers, 
— the  one  spiritual,  the  Mikado  at  Kioto,  the  other  secular,  the 
Shogun  at  Yeddo.  The  Shogun  rather  exercised  the  govern- 
ing power  in  name  of  the  Mikado,  who,  in  spite  of  his  seclusion 

1  Missiones  Catholicce  in  the  text  of  1901  says  42,450,  in  the  table  of 
statistics  only  32,000.  The  statistics  of  the  Paris  Seminary  have  the  former 
figure.     Baumgarten  wavers  between  42,450  and  38,230. 

2  Griffis,  The  Mikado's  Empire,  New  York,  1876  ;  also,  Dux  Christus,  An 
Outline  Study  of  Japan,  New  York,  1904.  Kinse  Sbiriaku,  A  History  of 
Japan,  from  the  First  Visit  of  Commodore  Perry  in  1853  to  the  Capture  of 
Hokodate  by  the  Mikccdo's  Forces  in  1869  ;  translated  from  the  Japanese  by 
Satow,  Yokohama,  1873.  Mitford,  Stories  from  Old  Japan.  Isabella  Bird  (Mrs. 
Bishop),  Untrodden  Paths  in  Japan.  Stock,  Japan  and  the  Japan  Mission, 
3rd  ed.,  London,  1898  ;  and  Church  Miss.  Atlas,  3rd  ed.,  p.  197.  Verbeck, 
"  History  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan,"  in  the  Proceedings  of  tlie  General 
Conference  of  the  Protestant  Missionaries  of  Japan,  held  at  Osaka  in  1883, 
Yokohama,  1883,  p.  23.  Brief  Survey  of  Christian  Work  in  Japan,  with 
special  reference  to  the  Kumiai  Churches,  Boston,  1892.  Green's  translation 
(revised  and  enlarged)  of  Ritter,  Thirty  Years  of  Protestant  Missions  in  Japan, 
Tokio,  1898. 


35 8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  powerlessness,  was  always  regarded  as  the  real  ruler  of 
Japan.  The  power  of  the  Shogim  was  broken  in  a  decisive 
battle  in  1868,  the  young  Mikado,  Mutsu  Hito,  who  came  to 
the  throne  the  year  before,  having  placed  himself  on  the  side 
of  the  party  of  progress,  which  recognised  the  necessity  both  of 
intercourse  with  foreigners  and  of  the  consolidation  of  authority 
in  Japan.  Since  that  time  the  Mikado  has  been,  not  in  name 
merely,  but  in  fact,  the  real  ruler  of  Japan. 

With  the  Mikadoship  was,  and  still  is,  closely  con- 
nected Shintoism,  the  religion  of  the  country.  It  is  a  religion 
which  has  indeed  no  idols,  but  has  temples,  priests,  ritual 
observances,  prayers,  purifications,  and  bloodless  sacrifices, 
which  observes  a  kind  of  sun-  and  ancestor- worship,  and  pro- 
claims as  the  chief  commandment,  obedience  to  the  Mikado, 
the  descendant  of  the  Sun-goddess.  This  connection  of  the 
sovereignty  and  politics  of  Japan  with  the  Shinto  doctrine 
places  the  maintenance  of  the  latter  in  the  interest  of  patriotism, 
and  hitherto  neither  missions  nor  the  flood  of  enlightenment 
introduced  by  Western  culture  has  been  able  to  rob  the 
Shinto  worship,  poor  though  it  be  in  itself,  of  its  influence.1 
Shintoism,  indeed,  has  ceased  to  be  the  official  religion  of  the 
State ;  in  reality,  however,  it  rules  the  etiquette  of  Court  and 
State.  "  Shinto  can  never  hope,"  writes  the  Japan  Daily  Mail, 
"  to  continue  as  a  religion,  but  it  may  remain  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  a  national  conception."  And  the  most  influential  sect 
of  Shintoism  claims  to  be  nothing  else  than  a  union  for  the 
preservation  of  old  Japanese  ceremonies.  There  are  still 
190,758  Shinto  shrines  and  14,529  priests  distributed  among 
nine  sects ;  and  a  share  of  the  costs  of  Shinto  worship,  particu- 
larly in  the  163  national  temples,  is  still  a  burden  upon  the 
State  treasury. — But  in  spite  of  the  influence  which  Shintoism 
exerts  upon  the  national  life,  Buddhism,  which  obtained  an 
entrance  in  the  sixth  century  after  Christ,  is  much  more 
popular,  especially  since  in  the  ninth  century  a  certain  com- 
mingling of  the  two  religions  took  place,  and  Buddhism, 
divested  of  its  atheistic  philosophy,  has  been  transformed  into 
a  popular  ritualism  of  ceremonies,  priestly  and  monastic  orders, 
fasts,  indulgences,  pilgrimages,  etc.  How  powerful  it  is  to-day 
— and,  indeed,  to-day  it  almost  seems  as  if  from  Japan  there 
were  to  be  expected  a  revival  of  Buddhism  in  general — is  seen, 
not  only  from  the  fact  that  there  are  at  its  disposal  more  than 
100,000  priests  and  73,000  larger  temples,  but  also  from  its 

1  Professor  Kume,  of  the  Imperial  University  at  Tokio,  who  on  scientific, 
not  religious,  i  muds  had  declared  the  descent  of  the  Mikado  dynasty  from 
the  Sun-goddess  to  be  a  pure  legend,  was  in  1892  first  compelled  to  recant,  ami 
then  deposed  from  his  oilice. 


Asia  359 

assuming  a  great  activity,  having  begun  missions  in  Formosa 
and  in  China,  and  fighting  with  means  provided  by  Western 
science,  to  which — as  well  as  even  to  Christian  influences — its 
eclecticism  understands  how  to  accommodate  itself  with  com- 
plaisant dexterity. — Confucianism  also,  which  has  many  points 
of  contact  with  Shinto  doctrine,  has  found  entrance  among  the 
educated  classes  in  Japan,  so  that,  almost  after  the  same 
manner  as  in  China,  there  is  a  mingling  of  religions,  which 
makes  it  impossible  to  determine  statistically  the  adherents  of 
the  different  religions.  But  the  influence  of  Confucianism  is 
decidedly  on  the  wane.  Much  as  its  morality  without  religion 
appeals  to  the  rationalistic  thought  of  the  Japanese,  with  their 
inclination  to  atheism,  still  it  manifests  itself  in  reality  too 
little  as  a  moral  power,  and  is  helpless  in  face  of  the  moral 
problems  presented  by  modern  life,  particularly  by  the  equal 
rights  of  all  citizens. 

Along  with  Western  culture,  there  has  now  also  flowed 
into  Japan  a  broad  stream  of  modern  unbelief,  in  the  garb  of 
Western  science ;  and  while  among  the  lower  classes  of  the 
population  superstition  in  its  Shinto-Buddhist  form  exercises 
an  almost  unlimited  sway,  among  the  educated  classes  this 
unbelief  has  obtained  a  large  following.  To  a  great  extent 
they  have  become  religionless  ;  religious  indifference,  scepticism, 
and  agnosticism  have  made  many  atheists.  "  We  are  on  an 
equality  with  the  nations  of  Europe,  have  an  excellent  educa- 
tional system,  have  telegraphs,  railways,  steamships  and  great 
factories,  a  good  army,  a  good  fleet,  and  a  constitutional 
government.  What  do  we  need  religion  for  ? " — so  think 
large  circles  of  educated  Japanese,  and  for  this  philosophy  they 
appeal  to  materialistic  Europe.     But  we  anticipate. 

268.  Three  and  a  half  centuries  ago  they  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Christianity  in  the  form  of  Catholicism.  The  Jesuit 
mission,  begun  by  Xavier  in  1549,  produced  in  a  short  time 
comparatively  great  results,  even  if  the  2  millions  of  Catholics 
said  to  have  been  in  Japan  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century  are  a  gross  exaggeration.  Not  to  speak  of  other  super- 
ficial methods  of  conversion,  these  results  were  obtained  mainly 
by  means  of  a  political  alliance  with  a  Shogun  who  was  hostile 
to  Buddhism  ;  and  when,  in  addition  to  this  alliance,  the  Jesuits 
also  entered  into  foreign  political  conspiracies,  there  followed 
one  of  the  most  cruel  persecutions  of  Christians,  which  ended  in 
the  almost  complete  extirpation  of  Catholicism,  and  the  exclu- 
sion not  only  of  Christianity  but  also  of  all  foreigners  from  Japan. 
This  bloody  catastrophe  of  1637  was  followed  by  a  period  of 
more  than  200  years  during  which  Japan  was  shut  to  the  out- 
side world,  and  Holland  alone,  under  the  most  dishonouring 


360  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

conditions,  was  allowed  to  carry  on  a  limited  trade.  It  was 
only  in  1853  that  the  American  Admiral  Perry  forced  the 
opening  of  two  ports  for  the  United  States,  a  privilege  which 
was  soon  claimed  by  other  nations  as  well ;  and  when  it  was 
secured  to  England  in  1858,  the  isolation  of  Japan  was  at  an 
end.  It  has  already  been  mentioned  that,  in  connection  with 
this  opening  of  the  empire,  the  Shogunate  was  ten  years  later 
abolished.  When  the  young  Mikado  had  gained  the  mastery, 
and  had  made  Tokio  his  capital,  and  when  the  Daimios  had 
put  their  feudal  privileges  into  his  hand,  a  new  period  of 
Japanese  history  began.  Within  a  few  decades  a  revolution 
in  civilisation  developed  itself,  which  aroused  the  astonish- 
ment of  the  educated  world,  and  which,  especially  after  the 
victorious  war  with  China,  caused  the  island  empire  of  East 
Asia  to  be  recognised  by  the  Western  Powers  as  a  rival  of  equal 
standing  with  themselves.  The  new  Japan  drew,  especially 
from  America  and  England,  but  also  from  Germany,  instructors 
in  all  the  branches  of  civilisation ;  in  hundreds,  even  in 
thousands,  it  sent  its  sons  abroad  as  pupils,  and  with  a  facility 
which  is  a  splendid  testimony  to  the  ability  of  the  nation,  it 
appropriated  all  the  attainments  of  Western  civilisation.  It 
made  its  own  not  merely  the  technical  achievements  in  all  the 
departments  of  industrial  and  military  life,  but  the  scientific 
as  well,  and  these  brought  in  a  reform  of  the  intellectual  life. 
A  new  era  in  education  began  :  a  university  was  founded  on  the 
Western  model,  which  has  now  several  thousand  students ;  the 
whole  school  system — advanced  and  elementary — was  splen- 
didly organised  over  the  whole  country,  so  that  by  1893  there 
were  3J  million  children,  including  about  1  million  girls,1  re- 
ceiving instruction  from  68,000  teachers ;  an  extensive  literary 
activity,  including  the  production  of  journals  and  newspapers, 
sprang  up,  and  correspondence  by  letter  made  an  undreamed- 
of advance.  Of  course,  all  was  not  gold  that  glittered.  Owing 
to  the  haste  with  which  all  these  innovations  spread  over  the 
country,  there  was  a  great  want  of  solid  foundation,  and  much 
of  the  veneer  of  culture  passed  for  the  solid  reality.  When  we 
consider  that  modesty  is  not  a  national  virtue  of  the  Japanese, 
we  can  understand  how  in  these  circumstances  much  empty 
conceit  gives  itself  airs,  which  is  most  disagreeable  when  the 
pupils  pose  as  the  masters  of  their  teachers. 

269.  As  it  was  the  Americans  who  first  opened  the  gates 
of  Japan,  so  they  too  were  first  in  the  field  with  the  Gospel 
of  Christ.     The  first  comers  were  the  Protestant  Episcopal, 

1  According  to  the  official  report  of  the  Education  Department,  there  were 
in  190:1),  P3  per  cent,  of  all  the  boys,  and  81  per  cent,  of  all  the  girls,  in  attend- 
ance  at  school. 


ASIA  361 

the  Presbyterian,  and  the  (Dutch)  Eeformed  Churches  of  the 
United  States.  Their  first  missionaries,  of  whom  Williams, 
Dr.  Hepburn  (now  emeritus),  and  Dr.  Verbeck x  (who  died  in 
1898)  afterwards  rendered  distinguished  service,  settled  in 
1859  at  Nagasaki  and  Yokohama,  where  at  first  they  obtained 
the  right  of  residence  only  as  teachers  of  English  in  Japanese 
schools.  Christianity  was  still  a  religio  illicita.  The  first 
missionaries,  too,  of  the  American  Baptists  (Goble),  who  came 
to  Japan  in  1860,  of  the  English  C.  M.  S.  (Ensor),  who  came 
in  1869,  and  of  the  American  Board,  who  came  in  1871 
(Greene,  Gulick,  Davis),  on  taking  up  their  residence  at 
Nagasaki  and  Kobe,  could  only  secretly  exercise  their  proper 
calling.  Until  1873,  when  the  old  edict  against  Christianity 
was  repealed,  and  while  public  opinion  was  dominated  by  the 
prejudice  against  the  preachers  of  Christianity,  it  was  only 
here  and  there  that  public  preaching  was  possible.  In  1866, 
indeed,  the  first  evangelical  Japanese  convert  had  been  bap- 
tized, and  in  1872  the  first  evangelical  congregation,  number- 
ing only  11  members,  had  been  constituted  in  Yokohama. 
The  time  of  silent  sowing  was  followed  after  1873  by  a  period 
of  free  missionary  movement,  especially  after  the  official  con- 
nection of  the  State  both  with  Shintoism  and  with  Buddhism 
had  been  dissolved,  and  by  the  constitution  of  1889  full 
freedom  for  missions  had  been  proclaimed.  More  and  more 
missionary  societies  took  possession  of  the  hopeful  field ;  these 
were  mostly  American,  including  Presbyterians,  Baptists, 
Methodists,  and  others,  but  there  were  also  British,  the 
S.  P.  G.,  C.  M.  S.,  and  the  Scottish  United  Presbyterians  ;  and 
one  German  society,  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Mis- 
sionary Union,  began  work  in  1885  ;  so  that  in  1904  there 
were  in  Japan  some  30  societies,  of  which  the  half  were  com- 
paratively small,  and  these  maintained  280  missionaries  and  270 
unmarried  lady  missionaries.2 

As  the  number  of  workers  increased,  the  work  of  these 
missions  in  teaching,  preaching,  and  literature  developed  both 
in  extent  and  in  thoroughness.  Even  beyond  the  Treaty  Ports 
the  missionaries  extended  their  journeys  and  mission  locations 
arose.  Natives  joined  in  the  work,  and  the  young  congrega- 
tions made  encouraging  efforts  towards  financial  independ- 
ence ;  in  1899  the  sum  of  £10,000  ($48,000)  was  raised ;  mass 
meetings  took  place  in  public  places,  and  press  controversies 
in  the  newspapers  and  in  brochures  made  the  discussion  of 
Christianity  the  order  of  the  day.     In  1883  there  were,  after 

1  Griffis,  Verbeck  of  Japan,  New  York,  1901. 

2  In  the  detailed  statistical  tables  tlio  wives  of  missionaries  are  included 
among  the  women  woi'kers.     I  have  excluded  them  in  my  figures. 


362  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

ten  years'  labour,  37  stations  and  93  congregations,  with  5000 
adult  church  members,  63  mission  schools  with  2500  scholars, 
and  7  theological  seminaries  with  71  students,  from  which 
there  had  gone  forth  already  41  ordained  native  pastors  and 
108  assistant  preachers  not  ordained.  Of  all  the  missionary 
societies  the  American  Board  takes  more  and  more  the  leading 
place,  partly  on  account  of  its  congregational  principles,  which 
accorded  well  with  the  Japanese  striving  after  independence ; 
partly  on  account  of  the  far-reaching  activity  of  Nisima,  a 
distinguished  young  Japanese  whose  desire  for  knowledge 
drove  him  to  America,  and  who  was  there  in  a  remarkable 
way  led  to  become  a  Christian  in  connection  with  the  Con- 
gregational Church.  Subsequently  he  accompanied  the  great 
embassy  under  the  Japanese  minister  Iwakura  through 
America  and  Europe  as  interpreter,  and  after  his  return  to 
his  native  country  in  1875  he  founded  a  famous  Christian 
academy,  the  Doshisha  at  Kyoto.1  This  school,  which  was 
gradually  extended  into  an  university,  had  after  ten  years  230 
students  and  after  fifteen  years  900,  and  up  to  the  death  of 
Nisima  in  1890  exerted  an  influence  for  the  Christianising  of 
Japan  which  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated.  During  the 
reactionary  movement  which  followed,  when  rationalism  was 
increasing  in  strength,  the  Doshisha  unfortunately  turned 
into  rather  radical  ways :  it  banished  the  American  mission- 
aries from  its  teaching  staff,  and  refused  to  recognise  the 
joint  proprietary  right  of  the  American  Board,  which  had 
supplied  most  of  the  means  for  the  erection  of  the  institution, 
—  a  proceeding  which  throws  a  very  dark  shadow  on  the 
gratitude  of  the  Japanese.  Indeed,  the  directors  of  the 
university,  under  the  guidance  of  the  president,  the  Christian 
preacher  Yokoi,  went  so  far  as  to  strike  out  from  the  charter 
the  paragraph  which  decreed  for  ever  that  the  instruction 
should  be  wholly  based  on  Christianity,  or  at  any  rate  they 
made  it  apply  exclusively  to  the  theological  department. 
This  meant  that  the  Doshisha  had  been  secularised.  No  doubt 
the  Independent  congregations  protested  strongly  against  this, 
and  even  the  secular  Japanese  press  decidedly  condemned  the 
step ;  nevertheless,  and  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  number 
of  students  considerably  diminished,  the  objectionable  resolu- 
tion was  adhered  to,  and  it  was  only  when  a  judicial  issue  of 
the  matter  was  seriously  threatened  that  the  directors  gave 
way,  and  men  were  chosen  in  their  place  who  restored  the 
original  statute  and  guaranteed  the  Christian  character  of  the 
university.  The  question  of  ownership  was  also  regulated  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  American  Board ;  so  that  when  it 
1  i!   i  i  of  J.  U.  A'isi/iut,  Boston,  18! 


ASIA  363 

celebrated  its  semi-jubilee  on  25th  September  1900,  it  could 
be  shown  that  it  had  educated  4611  pupils  (including  862 
young  women),  of  whom  838  had  become  graduates,  95  pastors, 
147  teachers,  and  28  Government  officials.  Especially  since 
1902,  under  the  presidency  of  Kataoka,  the  institution  has 
made  encouraging  progress.  Kataoka  was  a  Christian  who 
rejoiced  to  confess  himself  such,  a  man  as  energetic  and 
influential  as  he  was  firm  and  warm-hearted.  He  held  the 
office  of  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  to  which  he 
belonged,  and  retained  the  office  even  when  he  was  chosen 
President  of  the  Lower  House  in  Parliament.  The  suggestions 
made  to  him  from  many  quarters  that  he  should  surrender  his 
connection  with  the  Church,  or  at  least  the  office  of  the 
eldership,  in  order  to  win  the  favour  of  the  non-Christian 
voters,  he  resolutely  rejected,  and  his  loyalty  to  conviction 
found  appreciation  and  applause  even  amongst  those  of  different 
opinions.  It  brought  honour  and  blessing  to  the  Doshisha  to 
have  at  its  head  a  man  so  universally  esteemed  and  influential, 
who  was  at  the  same  time  a  Christian  personality  so  firmly 
grounded.  Unhappily,  after  eighteen  months'  work  in  the 
Doshisha,  Kataoka  was  removed  from  his  sphere  of  usefulness 
by  death  on  31st  October  1903.  His  place  has  been  taken 
by  Professor  Schinomura.  The  school,  which  had  now  been 
reorganised  in  a  Christian  spirit,  was  soon  again  involved  in 
conflicts  by  reason  of  the  new  educational  laws,  to  be  mentioned 
afterwards,  but  out  of  these  it  has  come  forth  triumphant.  In 
the  year  1900  the  new  administration  found  itself  face  to  face 
with  the  alternative,  either  to  eliminate  religious  instruction 
from  the  programme  of  the  Academy,  or  to  renounce  its  recog- 
nition by  the  State.  It  decided  for  the  latter.  The  number 
of  scholars  sunk  in  consequence  from  250  to  158.  Mean- 
while, however,  in  spite  of  its  Christian  character,  the  school 
regained  its  lost  rights,  and  in  1901  it  had  again  230 
pupils.  That  a  Christian  spirit  reigns  in  the  reorganised 
Doshisha,  is  happily  attested  by  the  baptisms  among  its 
students  from  year  to  year :  in  1902,  28  young  men  and  15 
young  women. 

Even  in  this  second  period  the  impulse  of  the  young  Japanese 
Christians  towards  independence  asserts  itself,  as  well  as  a 
striving  after  a  unity  which  should  bridge  over  the  denomi- 
national limits  of  the  American  and  English  church  systems. 
In  1872  and  1878  general  conferences  met  at  Tokio,  with 
reference  to  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  and  the 
Old  Testament  respectively,  which  were  completed,  the  former 
in  1879  and  the  latter  in  1888,  under  the  superintendence  of 
Hepburn.     And  "  the  General  Missionary  Conference  held  at 


364  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Osaka  in  1883,1  like  a  great  review  by  the  mission  of  its 
forces  and  achievements  in  presence  of  the  enemy,  showed  the 
astonished  Japanese,  by  the  harmony  of  its  transactions,  that 
the  Evangelical  Church,  with  all  its  apparent  division  through 
denominational  differences,  was  still  a  mighty  united  spiritual 
force.  It  also  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  activity  of  the 
missionaries,  as  much  by  increasing  the  consciousness  of  their 
strength  and  community  of  interest,  as  by  the  fruitful  exchange 
of  ideas  regarding  the  most  varied  missionary  questions." 
In  the  following  period,  from  1883  onward,  this  striving 
towards  unity  found  further  expression  in  the  combination 
of  the  Congregationalist,  Presbyterian,  and  Episcopal  congrega- 
tions severally  into  one  church  corporation.  The  first  became 
the  Kumiai  Kyokwai — Congregational  Church ;  the  second, 
the  Nippon  Kirisuto  Kyokwai — United  Church ;  the  third, 
the  Nippon  Sei  Kyokwai — Episcopal  Church  of  Japan.  The 
Methodist  congregations  are  also  in  process  of  combination ; 
but  the  less  numerous  Baptist  group,  with  1900  members, 
and  the  various  small  separate  missions,  have  not  yet  reached 
this  stage.  A  general  Evangelical  National  Church  of  Japan, 
the  formation  of  which  has  been  urged  from  many  sides,  is  still, 
however,  in  the  far  distance. 

270.  The  third  period  of  the  Japanese  mission  beginning 
with  1883  falls  into  two  periods,  one  till  1889  of  growing 
advance,  and  one,  since  then  till  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
of  lessening  progress,  pause,  and  even  retrogression.  In  the 
five  years  up  to  1889  the  number  of  adult  evangelical  Christians 
rose  from  5000  to  29,000,  but  in  1899  it  was  only  about  41,800, 
exclusive  of  the  baptized  children  and  candidates.  In  1888 
the  number  of  adult  baptisms  for  the  year  reached  7700  ;  from 
that  time  the  annual  number  fell  off  till  in  1892  it  was  only 
3700,  and  until  1900  it  scarcely  keeps  up  to  this  level. 
The  rapid  advance  was  occasioned  far  less  by  a  universal 
hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness,  than  by  the  co-operation 
of  a  number  of  factors  unconnected  with  religion,  which 
wrought  a  change  of  mind  in  favour  of  Christianity  as  an 
educational  and  cultural  force,  particularly  among  wide  circles 
of  the  educated  classes.  The  disestablishment  of  the  native 
religions  by  the  State,  the  new  legislation,  which  paved  the 
way  for  Christianity,  and  the  recommendation  of  it  on  grounds 
of  politics  and  culture,  produced  an  atmosphere  favourable  for 
missions,  in  which  the  plenteously  scattered  seed  of  the  Gospel 
was  shone  on  as  by  the  sun.  Representatives  of  political 
liberalism  and  influential  educationists,  like   Fukuzawa,  vied 

1  Proceediwis  of  the  General  Conference   of  the   Protestant   Missionaries  of 
Japan,  field  at  Osaka,  Yokohama,  1883. 


ASIA  365 

with  one  another  to  make  clear  to  their  countrymen  the 
necessity  for  the  Christianising  of  Japan;  to  the  same  effect 
was  a  certain  vanity  which  made  the  people  desire  to  be 
regarded  no  longer  by  the  Western  nations  as  heathen,  but 
to  stand  on  the  same  level  with  them  in  every  respect,  even  in 
religion ;  and  as  young  Japan  was  at  that  time  not  yet  filled 
with  modern  agnosticism  and  scepticism  in  the  same  measure 
as  now,  many  saw  in  Christianity  a  kind  of  religion  of 
enlightenment  which  must  be  hailed  as  a  liberator  from  the 
disgrace  of  idolatry. 

271.  Enthusiastic  friends  of  missions,  especially  in  America, 
were  already   dreaming  that   Japan   would   be    Christianised 
even  before  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century, — when  the 
tide  turned,  and  a  reaction  set  in,  which  did  not,  except  in 
a  few  cases,  go  so  far  as  open  hostilities,  but  which  not  only 
brought  the  process  of  Christianisation  to  a  standstill,  but  also 
severely  sifted  the  congregations.     Various  causes  combined  to 
bring  about  this  reaction,  of  which  two  were  specially  effective, 
namely :  (1)  With  the  rapid  revolution  in  the  whole  political, 
social,  and  cultural  conditions  of  Japan,  a  spirit  of  licentious- 
ness gained  ground,  particularly  among  the  younger  generation, 
which  brought  dismay  even  to   the  enthusiasts  of   progress. 
The  old  conservatives,  who  gradually  gained  influence  again, 
attributed  this  licentiousness  to  the  decay  of  ancestral  customs  ; 
and  for  this  decay  in  turn  they  blamed  the  neglect  of  the  old 
Japanese  religion  and  morality,  and  the  pernicious  influence 
of  foreigners,  and  especially  of  Christianity.     They  started  the 
watchword  that  the  Christian  religion  was  undermining  the 
fundamental  Japanese  virtues  of  filial  affection  and  loyalty, 
and  that  in  order  to  awake  these  again  there  must  be  a  return 
to  the  old  religions.     So  Shintoism  was  again  patronised,  and 
it  was  expected  that  the  so-called  New-Shintoism  would  revive 
the  old  Japanese  spirit.     Moreover,  the  imperial  rescript  on 
the  subject  of  education,  which  was  issued  in  1890,  and  which 
enjoined  the  implanting  in  the  hearts  of  the  young  of   the 
virtues  of  their  forefathers,  loyalty  and  filial  love,  was  inter- 
preted in  a  sense  hostile  to  Christianity.     Although  neither 
was  Shintoism  able  to  fulfil  the  hopes  set  on  it,  nor  could 
Buddhism,  which  in  particular  took  advantage  of  the  reactionary 
movement  to  agitate  actively  in  its  own  interest,  and  which 
soon  became  the  chief  opponent  of  Christianity,  prove  itself  a 
power  for  moral  reform,  while  Confucianism  seems  to  have 
become   utterly  powerless,   still   the   prejudice  remained  un- 
broken in  the  popular  view,  that  Christianity  threatened  the 
foundations  of  the  empire  and  of  imperial  authority, — a  prejudice 
which  not  even  the  splendid  examples  of  patriotism  afforded 


366  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

by  Japanese  Christians  in  the  victorious  war  with  China  were 
able  to  break  down.  (2)  This  reproach  to  Christianity  is  very 
closely  connected  with  a  morbidly  increased  Japanese  self- 
consciousness,  which  has  imported  into  Japanese  patriotism  an 
excitability  and  sensitiveness  which  believes  it  to  be  necessary 
to  preserve  national  peculiarities  all  the  more  jealously  in 
view  of  the  undeniable  fact  that  Japan  owes  to  foreigners  its 
wonderful  progress  in  civilisation.  This  feverish  patriotism  has 
taken  the  form,  as  a  native  pastor  expresses  it,  of  a  "  Japano- 
Centrism,"  which,  with  the  motto  "Japan  is  the  principle," 
wishes  everything  to  be  "Japanised,"  and  goes  so  far  as  to 
make  itself  a  kind  of  religion,  and  to  set  forth  as  alternatives, 
"  Japan  or  Christianity."  The  organ  of  this  tendency,  which 
has  the  motto  referred  to  as  its  title,  challenged  the  Christians 
not  long  ago  to  answer  the  following  questions : — 

1.  Is  it  possible  to  reconcile  the  idea  of  the  holiness  of  the 
Japanese  Emperor  with  the  teaching  of  Christianity,  according 
to  which  Christ  is  the  Supreme  Euler  of  all  things  visible  and 
invisible  ? 

2.  Is  it  not  contrary  to  the  Japanese  constitution  to  re- 
cognise, besides  the  sovereign  of  the  country,  other  supreme 
beings,  as  a  God,  a  Jesus,  a  Church,  or  a  Bible  ? 

3.  Do  the  Christians  propose  to  regard  Jesus  as  a  faithful 
subject  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  or  do  they  propose  to  bring 
the  Emperor  under  the  dominion  of  Jesus,  so  that  he  is  to 
pray :  "  Jesus,  thou  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  on  me  "  ? 

In  addition  to  this  patriotism,  which  had  become  almost  a 
religion,  and  which  was  as  much  increased  by  the  victorious 
war  of  1894-1895  against  China,  as  it  was  made  more  sensitive 
by  the  growing  distrust  of  the  East  Asiatic  policy  of  the 
European  Powers,  and  which  has  not  lost  this  distrust  on 
account  of  the  new  treaties  with  the  Western  nations,  setting 
aside  the  exterritoriality  of  foreigners  in  Japan,  which  came 
into  force  in  1899,  there  were  two  other  circumstances  which 
favoured  the  reaction.  The  first  of  these  was  the  material 
business-spirit  or  industrialism,  which  is  more  and  more  gaining 
the  ascendancy,  and  which  "  makes  the  aristocracy  of  wealth 
into  the  new  and  highest  aristocracy  of  the  country."  The 
second  was  European  unbelief,  ever  rushing  in  more  copiously, 
which  has  learned  from  Western  science  to  see  in  Christianity 
a  position  which  has  been  superseded.  Count  Ito,  Japan's  most 
eminent  statesman,  well  expresses  the  view  of  the  leading 
circles  when  he  declares:  "I  consider  religion  to  be  something 
quite  superfluous  in  the  life  of  a  nation.  Science  stands  high 
above  superstition,  and  what  is  every  religion,  be  it  Christianity 
or  Buddhism,  but  superstition,  and  consequently  a  source  of 


ASIA  367 

national  weakness  ?  I  cannot  regret  the  almost  universal 
inclination  in  Japan  to  free-thinking  and  atheism,  because  I 
do  not  look  on  it  as  a  danger  to  society."  If  in  the  beginning 
the  endeavour  to  appropriate  Western  culture  favoured 
Christianity  as  a  cultural  factor,  now  they  think  they^have 
come  to  understand  that  they  can  have  Western  culture 
without  Christianity.  This  tendency  is  supported  not  only 
by  the  Imperial  University,  which  directly  fosters  it,  but  also 
by  the  Japanese  system  of  education  in  general,  which  in 
principle  excludes  religion,  and  in  fact  is  anti-Christian  in  its 
operation.  Private  schools  are  indeed  still  tolerated  alongside 
of  the  State  schools,  but  a  law  has  been  passed  which  forbids 
Christian  religious  instruction  in  these  also,  even  as  a  sub- 
ordinate subject,  if  they  do  not  wish  to  be  excluded  from  the 
rights  which  the  State  schools  enjoy, — a  law  which  naturally 
draws  away  the  scholars  from  mission  schools.  And  finally, 
when  we  further  take  into  account  that  by  all  these  circum- 
stances Christianity  in  Japan  has  been  driven  from  the 
offensive  to  the  defensive,  and  has  itself  been  partly  infected 
with  an  element  of  nationalism  and  rationalism,  we  are  able 
to  comprehend  the  reaction  which  has  set  in.1 

272.  Leading  men  among  the  Japanese  Christians  have 
indeed  courageously  opposed  the  extreme  nationalism  which 
regards  loyalty  as  the  sum  of  all  the  virtues;  but  they  are 
themselves  not  untouched  by  the  "Japanism"  which  intoxi- 
cates the  whole  nation.  And  this  Christian  "  Japanism  "  is 
perhaps  even  more  fatal  than  the  non-Christian,  because  it 
threatens  Christianity  itself  with  the  danger  of  an  alteration 
of  its  essence.  Influential  Christians  have,  in  fact,  passed  the 
watchword,  "Japanese  Christianity."  The  watchword  would 
not  be  without  its  justification,  if  it  implied  that  Christianity 
would  respect  and  ennoble  the  rightful  national  peculiarities 
of  Japan,  and  would  accommodate  itself  to  these,  particularly 
in  the  forms  of  worship  and  constitution.  But  the  phrase  is 
understood  to  mean  a  so-called  "  Christianity  without  dogma," 
which  the  Japanese  are  called  to  form  in  accordance  with  their 
own  genius, — a  Christianity  different  from  Western,  i.e.  from 
historical  Christianity,  and  running  at  last  into  rationalism  and 
moralism,  with  something  of  Asiatic  syncretism.  Fortunately 
this  tendency  is  not  followed  by  the  majority  of  Japanese 
theologians,  who  are,  on  the  contrary,  of  the  biblical-orthodox 
school ;  but  its  representatives  are  the  men  with  the  best-known 
names — e.g.  Yokoi,  the  former  president  of  the  Doshisha — who 
have  the  chief  say,  in  the  press  especially,  and  influence  public 
opinion.     This  tendency  is  undoubtedly  connected  also  with 

1  Miss.  Rev.,  1898,  170,  "  A  Japanese  Symposium." 


368  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

the  modern  critical  theology,  introduced  into  Japan,  not  from 
Germany  alone,  which  has  produced  in  the  heads  of  many 
young  Japanese  more  confusion  than  enlightenment,  and  has 
favoured  their  inclination  to  the  rationalising  of  Christianity. 
Great  missionary  results  have  been  expected  from  "  Japanised  " 
and  rationalised  Christianity ;  but  it  is  an  instructive  piece  of 
irony  that  with  the  strengthening  of  this  tendency  Christianity 
has  lost  the  best  of  its  missionary  power.  Notably  the 
Unitarianism  imported  from  America,  which  for  a  long  time 
had  a  great  deal  to  say  for  itself,  has  as  a  mission  completely 
vanished  ;  already  it  sails  entirely  in  the  channels  of  syncretism, 
and  celebrates  the  birthdays  of  Confucius,  Buddha,  and  Christ 
in  like  fashion. 

A  very  pleasing  feature  in  young  Japanese  Christianity 
was,  and  still  is,  its  strenuous  effort  towards  independence,  a 
feature  which  cannot  be  sufficiently  encouraged  and  fostered. 
But  in  connection  with  the  morbidly  increased  national  self- 
consciousness,  there  lies  also  in  the  Christian  striving  after 
independence  a  strong  tendency  to  an  exaggerated  self- 
importance,  which,  instead  of  helping  missions,  threatens  to 
become  a  danger  to  Christianity.  The  danger  consists  in  this, 
that  even  now  there  is  a  desire  in  certain  influential  circles 
for  an  absolute  independence  from  foreign  missionaries,  the 
setting  aside  of  their  supervision,  the  reduction  of  their 
number,  and  even  their  total  withdrawal  at  the  earliest 
possible  date ;  as  well  as  in  this,  that,  owing  to  the  lack  of 
spiritual  maturity  to  be  found  in  the  majority  of  native 
Christians,  and  even  of  the  native  and  often  very  youthful 
pastors,  in  spite  of  all  their — probably  not  always  really 
well-grounded — theological  training,  there  is  reason  to  fear  a 
syncretist  commingling  of  Christianity  with  heathen  elements, 
and  that  all  the  more  that  in  the  watchword  "Japanese 
Christianity"  there  lurks  in  large  and  varied  measure  the 
pretention  that  it  has  been  reserved  for  Japan  to  be  the  first 
to  make  Christianity  a  really  universal  religion.1  In  a  pre- 
dominating measure  it  is  the  Independent  congregations  in 
which  the  demand  for  independence  from  the  foreign  mission- 
aries is  put  forward  in  the  most  radical  form,  and  that 
although  it  is  evident  that  they  themselves  are  suffering  from 
their  Independent  doctrine.  Mention  has  been  already  made 
of  their  melancholy  experience  with  the  Doshisha.  But  even 
the  number  of  (communicant)  members  in   the  Independent 

1  Characteristic  is  it  that  the  declarat  ion  i;  made  with  all  earnestness,  that 
Japan  must  seek  a  religion  appropriate  to  a  people  so  advanced  and  intelligent  ; 
only  with  a  little  time  it  will  form  out  of  the  elements  of  the  principal  religions 
a  really  universal  religion  which  can  lie  accepted. 


ASIA  369 

congregations  is  undergoing  a  continuous  sifting.  In  1902  it 
amounted  to  10,700;  ten  years  earlier  it  stood  at  the  same 
level.  Seeing  that  every  year  new  accessions,  numbering  on 
an  average  several  hundreds,  are  reported,  there  must  have 
been  lapses.  Happily,  with  the  exception  of  the  Presbyterians, 
it  is  only  the  American  Board  which  favours  the  reduction  of 
the  number  of  foreign  missionaries;  the  other  missionary 
societies  are  prudent  enough,  though  all  of  them  zealous  in 
the  work  of  setting  the  Japanese  Church  upon  its  own  feet, 
not  to  think  that  the  time  has  yet  come  when  the  Japan 
mission  can  be  entrusted  wholly  into  the  hands  of  the 
Japanese.  The  experiment  would  be  dangerous  also  for  this 
reason,  that  the  number  of  Japanese  studying  theology,  instead 
of  advancing,  is  diminishing;  between  1898  and  1902  it  has 
sunk  from  194  to  137.  There  was  a  general  backgoing  in  all 
categories  of  native  workers;  only  since  1902  has  the  ebb 
been  followed  by  a  slight  advance. 

273.  It  is  sad  indeed  that  the  Christianising  of  Japan  has 
sustained  a  check,  but  the  delay  is  no  misfortune.  It  is  better 
for  the  quality  of  Japanese  Christianity  that  it  should  pass 
through  a  sifting  process,  than  that  it  should  attain  dominion 
without  struggle  or  suffering,  by  the  help  of  motives  inwardly 
alien  to  it.  Eegarded  as  a  Divine  sifting,  it  cannot  be  dis- 
couraging, the  less  so  that  even  during  that  period  the  leaven 
of  the  Gospel  has  been  secretly  exerting  its  power,  and 
that  far  beyond  the  circles,  yet  but  small,  of  the  baptized. 
From  the  reaction,  the  mission  in  Japan,  formerly  carried 
away  by  excessive  hopes,  has  already  learned  two  lessons. 
The  first  is  that  the  mere  hunger  for  culture  has  not  the 
great  missionary  significance  which  was  attributed  to  it  in  the 
first  enthusiasm.  The  second  is  that  the  path  of  conquest  of 
the  Christian  mission  passes  not  from  above  downwards,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  from  the  depth  to  the  height,  and  from  the 
small  to  the  great.  It  was  characteristic  of  the  Japanese 
mission  that  it  had  its  chief  locations  in  the  large  towns,  and 
laboured  for  the  most  part  among  the  higher  strata  of  the 
population.  The  hopes  entertained  not  only  by  the  (G-erman) 
General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary  Union,  but  also  by 
other  missionary  societies,  of  winning  the  educated  circles  of 
Japan,  and  of  their  exerting  a  missionary  influence  over  the 
people,  have  been — we  cannot  say,  put  wholly  to  shame,  for 
there  is  a  goodly  number  of  men  belonging  to  the  higher 
classes  who  have  become  decided  and  influential  Christians, 
but — fulfilled  only  in  a  very  limited  degree.  No  other  than  a 
missionary  of  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant  Missionary 
Union  writes  these  characteristic  words :  "  The  time  is  past 
24 


370  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

in  Japan  when  Christianity  was  the  fashion,  and  when  it  was 
regarded  as  an  indispensable  adornment  of  European  culture ; 
the  crowds  of  educated  people  who  formerly  filled  the  churches 
have  melted  away.  Missions  will  do  well  to  turn  with  clear 
consciousness  of  their  aim  into  the  path  marked  out  in  the 
Saviour's  words  in  Matthew  xi.  25."  If  these  lessons  are  gener- 
ally taken  to  heart  for  the  future,  and  if  in  consequence  the 
Gospel,  and  that  the  old  biblical  Gospel,  is  preached  more  than 
hitherto  to  the  poor  in  the  towns  and  in  the  country,  the  period 
of  reaction  will  have  brought  great  gain.  The  striving,  too,  of 
the  Japanese  Christians  to  attain  independence,  which  has  an 
aspect  so  praiseworthy  and  so  full  of  hope  for  the  future,  is 
gradually  being  brought,  under  wise  guidance,  into  the  lines,  it 
is  to  be  hoped,  of  an  ever  healthier  activity. 

If  the  signs  are  not  deceitful,  the  high  tide  of  the  reaction 
against  Christianity  is  already  on  the  ebb.  Eightly  perceiving 
that  the  missions  themselves  must  share  the  blame  of  the 
diminished  results  of  their  work  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
19  th  century,  since  they  have  occupied  themselves  with  too 
many  secondary  matters,  and  on  account  of  these  have  in 
many  respects  set  the  central  work  of  preaching  the  Gospel 
in  the  background,  they  have  begun  again  to  expend  more 
diligence  upon  evangelistic  missionary  work.  A  splendid 
impulse  in  this  direction  was  given  by  the  so-called  Taikyo- 
Dendo  movement,  with  which  the  20th  century  was  intro- 
duced. At  the  instigation  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  formed 
by  the  Japanese  Christians,  and  with  the  hearty  approval  of 
the  General  Missionary  Conference  at  Tokio,  an  evangelistic 
movement  was  started  there  in  the  spring  and  autumn  of 
1901,  which  spread  over  the  whole  land  in  connection  with 
all  evangelical  congregations,  and  brought  great  multitudes 
under  the  sound  of  the  Gospel.  This  forward  movement  did 
not  indeed  keep  clear  of  methodistical  excesses,  nor  did  it 
correspond  to  the  extravagant  expectations  which  many 
enthusiasts  cherished  regarding  it,  but  without  any  doubt  it 
proved  the  beginning  of  a  new  advance  of  evangelical  missions 
in  Japan.  Not  only  did  it  bring  a  cheering  increase  of  new 
members  after  a  stationary  period  in  the  evangelical  Christian 
community  of  Japan,  and  quicken  many  slothful  congregations, 
but  it  also  furnished  the  proof  that  in  the  simple  pure  Gospel 
of  Christ  lies  the  power  of  God  for  the  overcoming  of  the 
hindrances  to  the  reception  of  Christianity  in  Japan.  It  also 
contributed  to  further  endeavours  after  union  among  the 
different  missionary  organisations.  The  General  Missionary 
Conference  which  met  in  Tokio  in  1900  appointed  a  Standing 
Committee  for  the  furthering  of  organised  united  evangelistic 


ASIA  371 

work ;  a  common  hymn-book,  common  Sunday-school  lessons 
are  already  partly  ready,  partly  in  preparation,  and  a  single 
Japanese  Methodist  Church  (Kirisuto  Hosei  Kyokwai)  is 
being  constituted.  During  the  war  there  began  a  gratifying 
increase  in  the  number  of  progressing  Christians,  which  has  the 
prospect  of  continuance  in  the  immediate  future.  Not  only 
has  the  prejudice  against  Christianity,  as  if  it  did  not  accord 
with  Japanese  patriotism,  been  set  aside,  but  the  widespread 
activity  of  the  missionaries,  as  well  as  of  Japanese  Christians, 
in  the  garrisons  and  hospitals  and  at  the  seat  of  war,  together 
with  the  bravery  of  the  Christian  soldiers,  has  evoked  new 
sympathy  with  Christianity. 

274.  The  order  in  which  their  statistical  results  place  the 
five  main  groups,  into  which  the  evangelical  missionary 
organisations  in  Japan  are  divided,  has  considerably  altered 
during  the  last  decade.  The  Presbyterians,  it  is  true,  still 
stand  foremost  in  their  five  branches  with  10,900  communi- 
cants and  a  total  church  membership  of  12,500/  but,  like  the 
Congregationalist  churches  and  for  the  same  reasons,  these 
figures  are  practically  the  same  as  they  were  a  decade  ago, — 
which  signifies  not  simply  stationariness,  but  backgoing. — 
According  to  the  number  of  its  communicants  (10,700),  the 
Kumiai  Church,  associated  with  the  Congregationalist  American 
Board,  still  holds  the  second  place,  but,  arranged  according  to 
the  total  number  of  its  church  members  (11,400),  it  falls  back 
into  the  fourth  place.  The  third  (properly  the  second)  place 
belongs  to  the  Methodists,  with  8300  communicants  and 
12,500  members  in  their  four  branches;  and  the  fourth 
(properly  the  third)  to  the  Episcopalians  (English  and 
American),  with  5400  communicants  and  12,500  members. 
These  two  groups  have  greatly  increased  during  the  last 
decade,  and  will  probably  soon  surpass  the  Presbyterians  and 
Independents,  if  these  do  not  rectify  their  methods  that  make 
for  a  doctrinaire  independence.  Last  of  all  come  the  American 
Baptists  in  two  branches,  with  2320  baptized  adults. — Of  the 
other  smaller  missionary  societies  only  two  number  more  than 
a  thousand  members:  the  Church  of  Christ  (Disciples)  and 
the  Evangelical  Association  of  North  America;  the  only 
German  M.  S.  at  work  in  Japan,  the  General  Evangelical 
Protestant  Missionary  Union,  is  represented  by  only  193 
church  members. 

According  to  the  statements — which  are  certainly  not  free 

1  I  give  the  numbers  according  to  the  statistical  tables  which  the  Standing 
Committee  of  co-operating  missions  in  Japan  has  published  in  1904  at  the 
bidding  of  the  Tokio  Conference,  although  these  tables  contain  defects,  and,  it 
may  be  remarked  in  passing,  are  grouped  in  a  very  unhelpful  way. 


372 


PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 


from  question — in  the  "Mission  Statistics"  of  the  just 
mentioned  committee,  the  numbers  connected  with  evangelical 
missions  in  1903  were  as  follows  : — 


Foreign  missionaries  .  .  283 
Unmarried  women  mission- 
aries ....  269 
Ordained  Japanese  ministers  406 
Unordained  Japanese  ministers  474 
Japanese  students  of  theology  137 
Communicants1  .  .  .  42,900 
Baptized  Christians  2   .         .  55,300 


Catechumens    and   on  pro- 
bation      ....     4,200 
Adults  baptized  in  1903  8     .     3,600 
Organised  congregations      .        510 
Sunday  scholars  .        .  50,000 

Day  scholars         .         .         .  12,400 
Congregational     contribu- 
tions        .         .        .         £13,450 


Besides  these,  there  is  a  group  which  can  scarcely  be 
registered,  but  seems  to  be  not  very  small,  of  earnest  Japanese 
Christians,  whose  independence  goes  so  far  that  they  hold 
themselves  apart  from  every  missionary  and  church  organisa- 
tion, as,  for  example,  Atschimura,  who  has  become  so  widely 
known  through  his  book,  How  I  became  a  Christian. 

Among  the  evangelical  Christians  of  Japan,  number- 
ing 66,000,  there  are  comparatively  few  baptized  children, 
owing  to  the  congregations  consisting  to  no  small  extent  of 
young  and  still  unmarried  people,  a  circumstance  which 
entails  a  great  fluctuation  in  membership,  makes  the  exercise 
of  a  regular  pastoral  care  of  them  distinctly  difficult,  and 
occasions  many  lapses. — That  the  number  of  scholars  is  so 
few,  is  due  not  only  to  the  advanced  efficiency  of  the  State 
educational  system,  but  also  to  the  educational  legislative 
enactments,  which  make  competition  particularly  difficult  to 
mission  schools  by  the  principle  of  excluding  religious  instruction 
from  the  syllabus.  Only  after  lengthened  struggles  has  religious 
instruction  been  allowed  in  Christian  schools  supported  out  of 
private  means,  but  upon  condition  that  the  instruction  is  given 
outside  of  school  hours  and  in  separate  rooms ;  and  this  con- 
cession may  at  any  time  be  rescinded.  In  the  Government 
schools  there  prevails  for  the  most  part  a  free-thinking  spirit 
antagonistic  to  Christianity,  from  which  the  Christian  children 
in  attendance  have  to  suffer  much. 

In  conclusion,  we  give  a  brief  survey  of  the  Japanese 
mission  field,  again  in  geographical  order,  beginning  with  the 
most  northerly  island,  Yesso,  or,  as  it  is  now  called,  Hokkaido, 
to  which  a  considerable  emigration  is  now  being  directed  by 
the  Japanese  Government  for  the  purpose  of  colonisation. 

In  this  island  the  chief  centres  are  Nemuru  in  the  north - 


1  The  number  of  communicants  is  stated  too  low. 

2  The  last  census,  which  in  its  original  is  not  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  writer, 
gives  06,133  Protestants. 

3  The  number  of  baptisms  in  1903  omits  the  whole  Prosbytoriun  group, 


asia  373 

east,  where  a  successful  work  is  carried  on  by  the  American 
Baptists,  particularly  among  the  fishing  population,  and  the 
southern  port  of  Hakodate,  where,  besides  the  Episcopal 
Methodists  and  the  German  Eeformed  Church  of  America, 
the  C.  M.  S.  has  been  at  work  since  1874.  From  this  centre 
up  to  Sapporo  in  the  west  and  Kuchiro  in  the  east,  the  C.  M.  S. 
has  19  mission  locations ;  and  it  is  also  engaged  among  the 
Ainus,  a  hill-people  numbering  some  20,000  souls,  who  stand  on 
a  low  level  of  civilisation,  and  are  believed  to  be  the  aborigines 
of  Japan.  They  are  given  over  to  coarse  Nature-worship  and 
to  drunkenness,  but  patient  endurance,  especially  on  the  part 
of  missionary  Batchelor,  who  has  also  given  form  to  their 
language,  has  resulted  in  the  gathering  from  their  midst  of 
some  900  baptized  persons.  The  American  Board  also  does  some 
mission  work  from  Sapporo  as  centre.  In  the  convict  colony 
there  it  gathered  a  small  congregation,  but  the  work  had  to 
be  given  up  for  a  considerable  time  owing  to  the  opposition  of 
Buddhist  officials ;  it  has  now,  however,  in  part  at  least,  heen 
resumed. 

The  chief  centres  of  evangelical  missions  are  to  be  found 
in  the  elongated  island  of  Hondo,  over  which  there  extends 
from  north  to  south  a  great  net  of  mission  stations,  which  are 
most  numerous  about  the  centre  of  the  island.  In  Tokio,  the 
capital,  in  particular,  and  in  the  port  of  Yokohama,  quite  the 
half  of  the  missionary  societies  at  work  in  Japan  have  settle- 
ments, although  the  Presbyterians  predominate.  A  multitude 
of  the  central  educational  institutions  of  the  different  de- 
nominational groups  of  missions  are  also  situated  here.  The 
small  German  mission  of  the  General  Evangelical  Protestant 
Missionary  Union  has  likewise  its  headquarters  at  Tokio. 
All  the  Protestants  together  have  in  Tokio  60  churches, 
15  financially  independent  congregations,  over  8000  com- 
municants, 60  ordained  Japanese  pastors,  14  higher  schools 
with  1800  scholars,  and  about  30  elementary  schools  attended 
by  fully  4000  children.  Towards  the  north  of  the  island,  as 
far  as  its  extreme  point  opposite  to  Yesso,  the  chief  centres 
are, — on  the  eastern  side,  Fukusima,  Yamagata,  Sendai, 
Chinomaki,  Furikawa,  Moriaka,  Awomori;  on  the  western 
side,  Niigata,  Ishinosaki,  and  Hirosaki,  some  of  these  with 
numerous  out-stations ;  the  workers  are  mainly  Presbyterians, 
Congregationalists,  Methodists,  and  Baptists.  To  the  south 
or  south-west  of  Tokio,  the  chief  missionary  agency,  along 
with  the  Presbyterians  and  the  C.  M.  S.,  is  the  American 
Board,  which  has  the  bulk  of  its  congregations  at  Osaka,  Kobe, 
Kioto,  and  Okayama.  To  the  north  of  this  strongly  Christian 
district,  at  Nagoya-Gifu  and  Kanawasa,  and  to  the  south-west 


374  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

as  far  as  Shimonosaki,  at  Hiogo,  Matsuye,  and  Hirosima,  besides 
the  stations  of  the  Societies  already  named,  the  most  note- 
worthy are  those  of  the  Methodists,  the  Baptists,  and  the  S.  P.  G. 

In  Shikoku,  the  third  of  the  principal  islands,  the  north  is 
occupied  mainly  by  the  Anglicans,  Baptists  (at  Tokushima), 
and  Congregationalists  (at  Imabari).  At  Cochi,  about  the 
middle  of  the  south  coast,  apart  from  an  independent  congrega- 
tion founded  by  the  American  Board,  the  Presbyterians  are 
the  sole  occupants  of  the  field. 

In  the  most  southerly  island  of  Kiushiu,  the  most 
prominent  stations  are  Nagasaki  and  Kumamoto,  on  the  west 
coast,  both  of  which  are  occupied  mainly  by  the  C.  M.  S.  and 
the  American  Board.  The  Anglican  station  of  Fukuoka  at  the 
north  of  the  west  coast,  and  the  Methodist  station  of  Kagoshima 
at  the  south  of  it,  are  of  minor  importance. 

The  Episcopal  group  of  missions  has  divided  its  Japanese 
field  of  labour  into  six  dioceses,  of  which  four — North  and  South 
Tokio,  Kioto,  and  Osaka — are  situated  in  Hondo,  and  the  fifth 
and  sixth  embrace  the  islands  of  Hokkaido  and  Kiushiu.  The 
first  and  the  third  of  the  Hondo  dioceses  are  under  American 
bishops.  Of  the  English  bishops,  Bickersteth,  recently  dead, 
has  left  the  deepest  impression  on  the  history  of  missions  in 
Japan. 

Roman  Catholic  Missions.    Appendix  to  Section  5 

The  founder  of  Catholic  missions  to  Japan  was  Francis  Xavier 
(1549).  His  short  period  of  work  in  Japan — it  only  lasted  2|  years — is 
densely  shrouded  in  legend.  This  much  is  historical,  that  under  the  pro- 
tection of  some  of  the  territorial  chiefs  (Daimios),  the  uninterrupted 
favour  of  all  of  whom  he,  however,  certainly  did  not  enjoy,  and  who 
hoped  for  some  advantage  from  his  connection  with  the  Portuguese, 
he  founded  small  communities  consisting  of  a  few  hundred  baptized 
Christians  partly  belonging  to  the  higher  classes  in  three  places  :  Kago- 
shima (on  the  island  of  Kiushiu),  Hirado  (on  the  island  of  the  same  name 
to  the  north  of  Kiushiu),  and  Yamaguchi  (on  the  peninsula  of  Hondo)  ; 
that  he  employed  a  fairly  summary  method  of  conversion,1  and  found  his 
chief  opponents  in  the  Buddhist  Bonzes.  In  vain  he  sought  access  to  the 
Emperor,  and  he  could  gain  no  footing  in  the  capital,  Miyako.  But  his 
whole  appearance  was  impressive,  and  his  short  period  of  activity  pre- 
pared the  way  for  others ;  and  as  he  was  careful  about  choosing  strong 
fellow-workers  and  successors,  the  work  made  distinct  advance  after  his 

1  "  He  considered  that  a  superficial  knowledge  of  some  of  the  commandments 
and  dogmas  of  Christianity  was  sufficient  preparation  for  an  adult's  admission 
into  the  Church.  He  often  baptized  people  the  very  same  day  that  they  heard 
something  from  him  of  a  religion  other  than  their  own.  There  could,  indeed, 
bo  no  question  of  any  actual  preaching  or  instruction  of  neophytes  before 
baptism,  because  neither  Xavier  nor  his  companions  had  a  sufficient  knowledge 
of  the  Japanese  language." — Haas,  Geschichte  des  Christenthums  in  Japan,  1902- 
1904,  I.  234. 


ASIA  375 

departure.     From  Kiushiu  and  the  small  islands  lying  to  the  north-east 
of  it,  it  spread  comparatively  quickly  to  Hondo  also  and  even  to  the 
capital  and  its  neighbourhood,  and  that  in  spite  of  all  kinds  of  vicissitudes, 
warlike  complications,  and  temporary  persecutions,  especially  because  the 
missionaries  succeeded  in  winning  over  Daimios  who  were  intent  upon 
material  enrichment  by  means  of  the  Portuguese,  and  who  after  they  had 
been  baptized  were  followed — really  necessarily  followed,  for  force  was 
not  infrequently  used — by  many  Samurai  (nobles)  and  their  dependents. 
Such  was,  for  instance,  the  case  of  the  much  extolled  Sumitanda,  "  who 
was  missionary  and  general  in  one,  and  manifested  his  zeal  for  the  faith 
by  killing  his  much  more  numerous  enemies,"  "destroying  idols  and 
pagodas,  instead  of  which  he  set  up  the  Cross,"  etc.     According  to  Baum- 
garten  (p.  39),  there  were  150,000  Christians  as  early  as  1579,  a  number 
"  which,  however,  soon  increased  to  200,000  "  ;  while  the  very  painstaking 
Haas  (ii.  332)  probably  makes  too  low  an  estimate  when  he  writes  :  "  It 
will  not  be  setting  the  figure  too  high  to  assert  that  down  to  1570 — when 
Torres,  the  superior  hitherto,  died  and  Cabralis  took  his  place — some 
20,000  souls  had  been  admitted  to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  by 
baptism."     At  all  events  Catholic  Christianity  spread  rapidly  while, 
during  the  Seventies,  the  powerful  Daimio  Nobunaga  was  the  actual 
ruler  of  Japan.     For  political  reasons  this  powerful  and  violent  man 
sided  with  the  Jesuits  because  he  saw  in  them  allies  against  the  Bonzes, 
whom  he  hated  with  a  deadly  hatred  and  cruelly  persecuted,  and  their 
powerful  following.     His  friendship  towards  the  Christians,  which  was 
at  first  imitated  by  his  equally  powerful  successor  Hideyoschi,  was  of 
course  cleverly  made  use  of — as  the  winning  over  of  the  mighty  in  the 
land  formed  from  the  beginning  one  of  the  principal  instruments  of  the 
mission — and  so  in  the  last  decades  of  the  16th  century  there  was  for  the 
Jesuit  mission,   which  understood  how  to   compromise  with  Buddhist 
customs  as  much  as  possible,  a  time  of  great  prosperity,  in  which  its 
adherents  increased  in  number,  not  as  a  matter  of  fact  to  2  millions,  as 
some  Catholic  statisticians  extravagantly  assert,  but  at  any  rate  to  600,000. 
This  time  of  very  great  prosperity  was,  however,  accompanied  by  the 
beginnings  of  decline.     Apart  from  the  fact  that  under  the  influence  of 
Spain,  the  commercial  rival  of  the  Portuguese  whom  the  Jesuits  favoured, 
there  were  also  sent  out  to  Japan,  in  spite  of  earlier  papal  instructions, 
Dominicans,  Franciscans,  and  Augustinians,  and  these  not  only  worked 
in  many  ways  in  opposition  to  the  missionary  methods  of  the  Jesuits,  but 
also — as  did  the  Jesuits — introduced  the  commercial  and  political  strife 
between  Portugal  and  Spain  into  the  missionary  enterprise, — apart  from 
this,  the  Christians,  the  more  numerous  and  the  more  powerful  they  be- 
came, began  also  to  play  a  political  part  under  the  leadership  of  Japanese 
princes  in  devastating  civil  wars.    As  early  as  1596  the  first  decree  of 
banishment  was  published  against  all  the  foreign  missionaries,  of  whom 
there  were  then  120  in  the  land ;  it  was  not  strictly  enforced,  though  a 
few  European  priests  and  also  some  native  Christians  were  crucified  in 
Nagasaki.     Matters  became  worse  when,  after  the  death  of  Hideyoschi, 
his  great  general,  Iyeyasu,  subsequently  the  Shogun  and  founder  of  Yedo, 
strove  for  the  supremacy,  and  killed  to  a  man  the  Christian  Daimios,  who 
were  allied  with  his  opponents,  in  the  two  battles  of  Sekigahara  (1600) 
and  Osaka  (1615).    As  early  as  1606  the  exercise  of  the  Christian  religion 
was  forbidden,  and  when,  outraged  by  this  decree,  the  Christians  once 
more  seized  their  arms,  and  Iyeyasu  was  confirmed  in  the  suspicion  that 
they  were  also  in  conspiracy  with  foreign  powers,  concerning  whom  he 
thought  he  held  proofs  that  they  were  meditating  the  conquest  of  Japan, 
a  fearful  persecution  broke  out,  which,  after  the  capture  of  the  fortress  of 


376  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

Schimabara  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  Christians,  ended  in  the 
expulsion  of  all  the  missionaries,  the  absolute  prohibition  of  Christianity, 
and  the  complete  cessation  of  any  intercourse  between  Japan  and  foreign 
countries.  It  is  once  more  a  grave  exaggeration  when  it  is  asserted  by 
Catholic  rhetoricians  that  a  million  Christians  lost  their  lives  in  the 
course  of  this  long  and  terrible  persecution,  but  the  fact  is  that  many  of 
the  tens  of  thousands  who  were  done  to  death,  in  part  by  the  most  in- 
human tortures,  proved  themselves,  by  a  heroic  martyrdom,  to  be  Chris- 
tians to  whom  their  faith  was  worthy  of  the  most  agonising  sacrifice  of 
life  itself. 

Even  after  this  forcible  uprooting  of  Christianity,  and  in  spite  of  the 
severest  threats  of  punishment,  Catholic  missionaries  repeatedly  tried  to 
gain  an  entrance  to  this  closed  land,  but  they  never  succeeded  in  effecting  a 
permanent  stay.  Nevertheless  small  Christian  remnants  maintained  them- 
selves in  secret,  and  when  the  country  was  reopened  in  1861,  and  Catholic 
missionaries,  sent  by  the  Paris  Seminary  to  whom  the  new  mission  to 
Japan  was  entrusted,  once  more  arrived,  they  found  some  thousands  still 
left,  who,  it  is  true,  "  scarcely  knew  any  longer  the  prescriptions  of  their 
traditional  faith." 

As  has  been  the  case  with  Evangelical  missions,  so  also  from  that 
time  Catholic  missions  have  been  furthered  or  hindered  by  the  favour  or 
disfavour  of  the  several  currents  which  have  agitated  modern  Japan,  but 
they  have  not  by  a  long  way  as  powerfully  gripped  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  nation  as  have  Evangelical  missions.  Their  literary  work  stands  far 
behind  that  of  Evangelical  missions,  and  their  adherents  are  recruited  far 
more  from  the  country  than  from  the  town  population,  and  from  the 
lower  strata  rather  than  the  educated  classes  of  the  people.  Only  quite 
recently  have  all  kinds  of  projects  been  devised  for  winning  the  intel- 
lectual aristocracy  for  Catholicism  more  than  has  been  done  hitherto. 
The  main  body  of  Catholic  Christendom  in  Japan,  fully  two-thirds  of 
it,  is  to  be  found  on  Kiuschiu.  There  seems  to  be  a  great  number  of 
children  among  those  who  are  baptized,  whereas  in  the  Evangelical 
Christendom  of  Japan  the  percentage  of  children  is  small.  In  1903  there 
were — this  is  characteristic — 1624  adults  baptized,  and  of  these  831,  i.e. 
half,  in  articulo  mortis  ;  and  3382  children,  and  of  these  some  1600,  again 
almost  half,  whose  parents  were  heathen  were  baptized  when  at  the  point 
of  death.  The  Japanese  mission  field  is  hierarchically  organised  into  four 
dioceses  :  1.  Tokyo  (an  Archbishopric,  which  embraces  the  central  portion 
of  Hondo),  with  9220  Catholics  in  1900 ;  2.  Nagasaki  (Kiuschiu  and 
Luchu),  with  37,000  Catholics ;  3.  Osaka  (West  Hondo  and  Schikoku), 
with  4620  Catholics  ;  and  4.  Hakodate  (North  Hondo  and  Hokkaido),  with 
4650  Catholics.  By  1903  the  total  number  of  55,590  had  increased  to 
58,086  ;  the  number  of  scholars  amounts  to  4500.  There  are  in  the  field 
120  European  missionaries,  30  native  priests,  80  monks,  and  325  sisters 
(including  natives). 

A  Russian  Orthodox  mission  has  also  existed  in  Japan  since  1861,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  able  and  revered  and  evangelically  minded  Bishop 
Nikolai,  who  has  his  headquarters  in  Tokio.  It  is  principally  carried  on 
by  Japanese  priests  (now  28),  only  three  Russians  being  at  work  with  the 
bishop,  and  embraces  28,200  converts  (including  children),  in  many,  and 
in  part  small,  congregations,  who  belong  pre-eminently  to  the  lower  and 
middle  classes  ;  there  are  only  175  scholars.  It  is  a  brilliant  example  of 
Japanese  tolerance  that,  in  spite  of  all  the  enmity  against  the  Empire  of 
the  Czar,  this  mission  should  have  been  placed  under  the  special  protec- 
tion of  the  Japanese  Government  during  the  Russo-Japanese  war.  Russia 
would  in  a  parallel  case  have  hardly  shown  the  same  tolerance. 


ASIA 


377 


275.  The  total  statistical  result  of  the  evangelical  missions 
in  Asia  is  somewhat  as  follows : x — 


British  India . 
Non-British  Further  India 
Dutch  Indies . 
China  and  Corea    . 
Japan    .... 

Total 


1,100,000  Evang.  Christians. 
8,000      „ 
415,000      „  „ 

260,000       „  „ 

66,000       „  „ 

1,849,000  Evang.  Christians. 


Catholic  missions  reckon  the  total  number  of  their  converts  in  their 
Asiatic  fields  as  follows : — 


British  India 
Further  India 
Indo-China  . 
The  Dutch  Indies 
China  . 
Korea  . 
Japan  . 


Total    . 


1,620,000  Converts. 

40,500 
840,500 

25,500 
750,000 

40,000 

58,000 

3,374,500  Converts. 


1  I  exclude  Western  Asia  from  these  statistics,  because  there,  as  in  Egypt, 
the  work  reaches  almost  exclusively  to  the  old  Oriental  Churches. 


CHAPTER    V 

OCEANIA 

Introduction 

276.  From  Japan  we  come  last  of  all  to  Oceania. 

Oceania  is  the  widespread  archipelago  in  the  Great  or  Pacific 
Ocean  between  the  east  of  Asia  and  the  west  of  America.  With 
the  exception  of  Australia,  which  is  regarded  as  a  continent,  it 
consists  entirely  of  islands,  almost  all  of  which  are  of  small 
extent.  We  shall  best  divide  this  great  archipelago,  with 
Meinicke,1  into  five  main  parts, — Polynesia,  the  farthest  east 
and  most  extensive;  Micronesia  and  Melanesia,  the  two 
western  groups;  Australia  and,  farthest  south,  the  New 
Zealand  group.  This  mass  of  islands,  scattered  over  the 
largest  ocean  of  the  earth,  is  in  this  respect  the  most  recent 
of  all  the  divisions  of  the  earth,  that  it  has  been  the  last  to 
emerge  from  geographical  darkness.  Spanish  and  Dutch  navi- 
gators, it  is  true,  had,  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries, 
discovered  some  of  the  Oceanic  islands, — the  Solomon  Islands, 
New  Guinea,  New  Zealand,  Vitu  or  Fiji,  and  Samoa.  But  it  was 
only  from  1769,  after  the  epoch-making  voyages  of  Cook,  that 
this  newest  world  began  to  play  a  real  part  in  geographical, 
colonial,  and  missionary  history.  Since  that  time  one  archi- 
pelago afer  another  has  been  explored,  so  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  New  Guinea,  the  Solomon  Islands,  and  some  portions 
of  the  interior  of  Australia,  almost  the  whole  of  Oceania  may 
now  be  regarded  as  a  region  well  known  and  to  a  large  extent 
opened  up  to  commerce. 

As  to  the  number  of  the  native  population  in  Oceania,  no 
exact  statistics  can,  indeed,  be  given.  In  most  of  the  islands 
the  climate  permits  white  people  to  reside  permanently,  and 
in  consequence  they  have  settled  extensively  in  all  directions, 

1  Meinicke,  Die  Inseln  des  Stillen  Oceans,  2  vols.,  Leipzig,  1875-76.  This 
classical  geography  of  the  South  Seas  gives  at  the  end  of  every  chapter  a 
precise  and  trustworthy  bird's-eye  view  of  the  mission  in  each  group  of 
islands. 

878 


OCEANIA  379 

and  most  of  all  in  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Fiji.  Altogether 
the  population  of  Oceania  is  estimated  at  over  5^  millions,  but 
the  natives  only  make  up  about  a  third  of  this  number  (per- 
haps 1,700,000).  It  is,  unfortunately,  established  as  a  fact 
that  the  native  population  is  decreasing,  and  in  some  islands 
(especially — apart  from  Australia — in  Hawaii  and  New  Zea- 
land) so  rapidly  that  the  natives  are  spoken  of  as  dying  out. 
The  natives  themselves  are  partly  responsible  for  this,  for 
they  were  so  demoralised  by  their  own  vices  that  they  had  not 
sufficient  power  of  resistance  to  bear  the  abrupt  transition 
from  the  simplest  life  of  nature  to  civilisation ;  but  the  blame 
lies  to  a  far  greater  extent  on  the  white  people,  who  brought 
in  destructive  diseases,  treated  the  natives  unsparingly,  often, 
as  in  Australia,  for  example,  deliberately  fought  for  their  ex- 
termination, or  provoked  them  to  acts  of  vengeance  and  war, 
for  which  a  bloody  requital  was  then  taken,  and  not  seldom 
upon  innocent  people.1  Much  destruction  of  human  life  has 
been  wrought,  in  particular,  by  the  so-called  labour  traffic, 
which  was  often  enough  not  to  be  distinguished  from  slave- 
catching,  and  which  has  only  within  the  last  few  decades  been 
placed  under  effective  control.2  The  criminals  transported  by 
England  and  France  to  their  Oceanic  possessions  also  proved 
mischievous  corrupters  of  the  natives. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  these  were  unable  to  maintain 
their  political  independence  in  face  of  the  growing  immigration 
of  colonists,  and  the  ever  more  acquisitive  colonial  policy  of  the 
Great  Powers  of  Europe.  England  and  France,  not  to  speak 
of  Holland,  first  vied  with  each  other  in  taking  possession  of 
the  most  valuable  regions,  and  then  Germany,  Spain,  and 
recently  even  the  North  American  Union,  appropriated 
Oceanic  possessions,  and  it  will  not  be  long  till  the  small 
remaining  portion  is  also  divided. 

The  discoveries  of  Cook  awakened  at  the  time  in  Europe 
a  romantic  enthusiasm,  not  only  for  the  lovely  islands,  with 
their  ravishing  beauties  of  nature,  but  for  their  inhabitants 
as  well,  who  were  pictured  as  the  happiest  children  of 
nature.  People  were  so  enchanted  with  the  new  island- 
world  that  they  imagined  they  had  there  discovered  Paradise. 
Soon,  however,  the  aspect  of  things  was  changed.  Bloody 
conflicts  arose,  mostly  through  the  fault  of  the  white  people ; 
and  when  the  natives  were  found  to  be  wild  men  with  many 

1  Warneck,  Die  gegenscitigen  Bezichungtn  zwiscJien  der  modcrnen  Mission 
und  Kvltur,  v.  p.  224,  with  abundant  references  to  sources  and  examples. 

2  The  Cruise  of  the  Rosario  amovgst  the  New  Hebrides  and  Santa  Cruz 
Islands,  exposing  the  recent  Atrocities  connected  with  the  Kidnaping  of  Natives 
in  the  South  Seas,  London,  1873. 


380  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

often  very  cruel  practices,  and  even  given  to  cannibalism,  those 
who  had  been  angels  to  begin  with  were  now  devils,  against 
whom  any  act  of  violence  was  held  to  be  permitted. 

277.  Even  evangelical  missions  were  at  the  outset  a  little 
under  the  spell  of  the  South  Sea  romance.  Cook's  discoveries 
had  in  truth  contributed  very  largely  to  the  reviving  of  the 
missionary  idea  in  old  Christendom,  and  to  the  selection  by 
the  L.  M.  S.,  the  second  of  the  newly  established  missionary 
societies,  of  Tahiti  as  its  first  mission  field,  and  there  the  en- 
thusiastic optimism  was  soon  sobered  by  bitter  experiences 
with  the  natives.  Among  all  the  fair  flowers  the  serpent 
was  found  hidden,  and  the  conversion  of  the  islanders  was 
found  not  to  be  so  easy  as  had  at  first  been  hoped.  But 
the  enthusiasm  thus  sobered  was  not  quenched;  it  only  be- 
came more  sound.  The  L.  M.  S.,  which  gradually  extended 
its  work  over  a  great  part  of  Polynesia,  and  afterwards  from 
there  as  far  as  New  Guinea,  was  followed  by  the  C.  M.  S.  in 
New  Zealand ;  by  the  Wesleyans,  chiefly  in  the  Tonga,  Fiji, 
and  Samoa  groups,  and  later  in  the  present  Bismarck  Archi- 
pelago, and  finally  in  the  Solomon  Isles;  by  the  S.  P.  G., 
which  pressed  into  different  fields  already  occupied ;  and  by 
the  Melanesian  Mission,  akin  to  the  S.  P.  G.  in  character,  in 
Eastern  Melanesia.  Further  accessions,  in  some  cases  even 
prior  in  time,  were  the  American  Board  in  Hawaii,  from  which 
it  passed  at  a  later  time  to  Micronesia,  and  the  Scottish  and 
Canadian  Presbyterians  in  the  New  Hebrides.  German 
missions  have  been  at  work  only  to  a  limited  extent, — the 
Moravians  and  for  a  time  the  Hermannsburg  mission  in 
Australia,  and  the  North  German  Missionary  Society  in  New 
Zealand.  The  numerous  white  settlers,  in  Australia  and  New 
Zealand  in  particular,  soon  formed  for  themselves  church 
organisations,  and  so  the  colonial  church  communities  joined 
the  societies  of  their  several  denominations  in  the  Oceanic 
Mission  work.  The  Wesleyans  acted  most  independently  of 
all,  for  their  Australian  Conference  took  over  the  whole  Wes- 
leyan  mission  in  Oceania.  But  the  Presbyterians,  Anglicans, 
Lutherans,  etc.,  in  Australia  also  carry  on,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  independent  mission  work.  Almost  all  these  missions 
have  had  to  bear  a  great  deal  of  opposition  and  calumny  on 
the  part  of  the  white  people,  the  traders  in  particular,  who 
believed  the  missions  to  be  injurious  to  their  interests.  These, 
however,  have  found  a  defender  in  the  geographer  Meinicke, 
who  has  convincingly  proved  the  selfishness  of  their  assailants. 

From  the  middle  of  the  Thirties,  when  evangelical  missions 
in  Oceania  had  already  achieved  considerable  success,  the 
Roman  missions,  in  alliance  with  the  French  colonial  policy, 


OCEANIA  381 

and  under  the  protection  and  even  the  armed  co  operation  of 
French  warships,  pushed  their  way  in  a  disturbing  and  de- 
structive manner  into  the  field,  with  the  avowed  aim  of 
Catholicising  the  Protestant  islanders.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, they  have  not  gained  much  success,  even  where  they 
have  had  French  force  behind  them ;  but  in  the  most  recent 
time  they  have  made  more  important  progress.  Of  this,  later. 
The  statistical  result  of  evangelical  missions  amounts  to 
293,000  native  evangelical  Christians  in  Oceania.  A  consider- 
able number  of  islands  and  groups  of  islands  have  been  wholly 
Christianised,  and  that  through  the  labour  of  evangelical 
missionaries.  Not  only  have  cannibalism,  human  sacrifices, 
the  murder  of  children,  and  the  like  cruelties  completely  dis- 
appeared, but  altogether  such  a  transformation  has  taken  place, 
that  ethnologists  are  raising  pathetic  complaints,  because  in 
great  parts  of  Oceania  they  can  scarcely  find  any  remnants 
of  the  old  heathen  conditions  ;  and  even  travellers  hostile  to 
missions,  and  eager  for  the  sight  of  nudities,  make  such  a 
confession  as  this :  "  In  the  Christian  period  peace  and  order 
have  visited  these  erewhile  savages,  and  hypocrisy  has  made 
them  happier."1  The  Christianising  of  the  Oceanic  Islands 
has  not  proceeded  altogether  in  an  ideal  way  ;  the  wars  of  the 
native  princes  and  all  sorts  of  other  influences  exerted  by  the 
chiefs  have  played  a  part  in  it ;  still,  on  the  whole,  it  has  been 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  that  has  brought  about  the  change. 
The  Bible  is  read  in  forty  Oceanic  languages,  into  which  it  has 
been  in  whole  or  in  part  translated ;  the  numerous  schools  are 
attended  by  more  than  100,000  scholars  of  both  sexes,  and 
several  thousand  natives  are  engaged  in  successful  work  as 
teachers  and  pastors.  A  large  number  of  congregations  are 
self-supporting,  and  from  their  midst  whole  bands  have  gone 
forth  as  missionary  pioneers,  at  the  risk  of  their  life,  carrying 
the  Gospel  to  islands  near  and  far.  Perhaps  nowhere  in  the 
whole  mission  field  has  native  co-operation  been  so  extensive 
and  successful  as  in  Oceania.     Besides  the  secret  of  the  Divine 

1  So,  e.g.,  M.  Buchner,  Reise  durch  den  Stillcn  Ocean,  Breslau,  1878: 
"  Yet  I  am  convinced  (although,  as  he  says,  there  is  no  class  of  Europeans  with 
which  he  has  less  sympathy  than  with  the  hypocritical  Reverends)  that  the 
missionaries  have  won  for  themselves  great  credit  for  what  they  have  done  for 
the  welfare  of  the  natives.  Formerly  despotism  and  cannibalism,  mutual  fear, 
insecurity  of  life  and  property,  a  state  of  war  of  all  against  all,  lay  heavily  upon 
the  population.  Now,  in  the  time  of  Christianity,  peace  and  order  have  come 
among  them.  Even  though  one  does  not  need  literally  to  believe  all  that 
stands  in  the  reports  of  the  missionaries,  it  is  still  not  to  be  denied  that  the 
state  of  things,  especially  among  the  Fijians,  was  bad  enough  in  the  pre-Christian 
time,  and  that  Christianisation  has  brought  about  a  highly  satisfactory  ad- 
vance. And  if  hypocrisy  makes  them  happier,  why  should  hypocrisy  be  bad 
and  blameworthy  ?  I  would  only  like  to  call  out,  '  Thus  far  and  no  further ' " 
(p.  253). 


382  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

blessing  and  this  native  co-operation,  another  source  of  the 
comparatively  rich  harvest  in  many  of  the  South  Sea  Islands 
has  been  the  fact  that  many  of  the  people  were  tired  of  the 
wicked  heathen  life,  that  the  old  heathenism  had  very  little 
power  of  resistance,  and  that  the  missionaries  had  here  to  do 
with  a  population  which  was  not  only  easily  accessible  by  sea, 
but  which  also,  by  reason  of  its  division  among  many  islands, 
constituted  little  communities,  which  made  it  possible  for  work 
done  on  individuals  to  have  at  the  same  time  an  immediate  in- 
fluence on  the  whole. 

Section  1.  Polynesia 

278.  After  this  general  bird's-eye  view  we  shall  make  the 
round  of  the  various  archipelagoes  with  their  separate  groups, 
many  of  which  have  a  romantic  history  of  their  own.  We 
shall  proceed,  however,  not  from  the  Asiatic  to  the  American 
side,  but  in  the  opposite  direction,  a  course  which  in  the  main 
has  been  also  that  of  the  missionary  history  of  Oceania.  We 
begin,  then,  with  Polynesia.  This  great  archipelago  is  inhab- 
ited by  a  population  of  good  physique,  akin  to  the  Malay 
race,  even  in  its  language  of  many  dialects.  It  is  divided  into 
8  minor  archipelagoes,  the  Hawaii,  Marquesas,  Paumotu  (Low 
Archipelago),  Society,  Hervey  (or  Cook),  Samoa,  Tonga 
(Friendly),  and  Viti  or  Fiji  Islands.  These  comprise  many 
groups,  and  there  are  also  many  isolated  islands. 

The  most  northerly  of  the  Polynesian  groups  are  the  vol- 
canic Hawaii  or  Sandwich  Islands,  as  they  were  named  by 
Cook,  their  second  discoverer,  who  was  first  worshipped  by 
the  inhabitants  as  a  god,  and  then  murdered  in  1779.1  This 
group,  lying  nearly  half-way  between  Japan  and  North 
America,  whose  capital,  Honolulu,  is  in  Oahu,  one  of  the  four 
largest  islands  of  the  group,  was  recently  annexed  by  the 
United  States,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  Japan,  which  believed 
that  it  also  had  a  right  to  the  islands,  owing  to  the  increasing 
bands  of  Japanese  immigrants,  who  number  now  over  60,000. 
The  native  Kanaka  population  is  given  to  sensual  excesses,  and 
seems  to  be  doomed  to  extinction;  it  numbers  only  31,000 
(besides  8500  half-breeds),  as  against  a  number  thrice  as  large 
at  the  end  of   the  Thirties2  and  44,000  in  1880.      Of   the 

1  Hopkins,  Hawaii,  the  Past,  Present,  and  Future  of  its  Island  Kingdom, 
London,  1862.  Anderson,  The  Hawaiian  Islands  ;  their  Progress  and  Coiidition 
under  Missionary  Labours,  Boston,  1864.  And  History  of  the  Mission  of  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  3rd  ed.,  Boston,  1872. 

2  Great  devastation  is  wrought  by  leprosy.  The  majority  of  the  victims  of 
this  disease  are  isolated  and  nursed  on  the  island  of  Molokai  at  the  cost  of  the 
Government,  and  are  cared  for  spiritually  both  by  evangelical  and  by  Catholic 


OCEANIA  383 

numerous  immigrants  who  are  taking  their  place  to  an  ever 
larger  extent,  the  majority  are  Japanese,  Chinese  (25,000),  and 
Portuguese  (8200).  There  are  in  all  28,500  white  people. 
The  real  mastery  was,  however,  for  a  long  time  before  the 
annexation,  in  the  hands  of  the  American  settlers,  who  have 
now  increased  to  more  than  3000.  The  whole  population 
amounts  at  present  to  150,000. 

The  field  was  favourably  prepared  for  missions  by  the 
attempts  at  civilisation  made  by  the  warlike  King  Kanieha- 
meha  I.,  who  united  all  the  islands  of  the  group  under  his 
sceptre,  and  by  the  abolition  of  taboo  and  of  idolatry  by  his  suc- 
cessor, Liloliho,  in  1819.  The  American  Board  had  its  attention 
drawn  to  the  islands  by  the  coming  of  some  young  Hawaiians 
to  America,  and  it  began  a  mission  in  1820  which  met  with 
little  opposition,  but  was  rather  supported  by  the  favour  of  the 
court  and  the  chiefs,  and  which  soon  achieved  surprising  suc- 
cess. At  the  end  of  half  a  century  the  work  of  Christianisation 
proper  was  completed, — a  work  which,  partly  on  account  of 
the  great  accompanying  advance  in  civilisation,  was  with 
rhetorical  exaggeration  designated  "  a  miracle  of  the  nineteenth 
century."  Unfortunately,  through  the  doctrinairism  of  the 
Independents,  the  young  church  was  prematurely  left  to  stand 
alone;  in  1870  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  was  en- 
trusted both  with  the  supply  of  pastors  for  the  congregations, 
numbering  more  than  50,  and  with  the  prosecution  of  a 
Hawaiian  mission  in  Micronesia ;  only,  the  superintendence  of 
the  mission  was  kept  by  the  American  Board  in  its  own  hands, 
and  in  1877  it  again  set  an  American  director  at  the  head  of 
the  Theological  College.  This  fatal  mistake,  which  assigned 
to  the  native  pastors  tasks  to  which  they  were  not  yet  equal, 
not  only  injured  the  inward  development,  but  also  reduced  the 
number  of  church  members,  which  has  now  fallen  to  about 
15,000.  A  large  number  (14,000)  were  enticed  over  to  the 
active  Koman  mission,  which  for  a  long  time  had  been  pressing 
in ;  a  smaller  number  (about  2000)  were  gained  by  the  Anglican 
mission,  represented  by  the  S.  P.  G.,  which  even  established  a 
bishopric  in  Honolulu,  which,  however,  since  the  American 
occupation,  is  transferred  to  the  Protestant  Episcopate  of  the 
United  States.  The  moral  condition  of  the  congregations,  too, 
is  not  very  satisfactory ;  recently,  however,  there  are  said  to 
be  signs  of  improvement.  On  the  other  hand,  the  financial 
achievements  are  considerable.  Mission  work  is  carried  on 
with  some  success  among  the  immigrant  Japanese  and  Chinese, 

clergy.  The  highly  extolled  Father  Damian  was  by  no  means  the  only  pastor 
who  ministered  to  the  lepers.  Like  him,  an  evangelical  minister,  Hanaloa, 
also  died  of  leprosy  on  Molokai. 


384  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

both  by  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  and  by  Anglican 
and  Japanese  preachers;  as  a  result  of  this,  there  are  1850 
Christians. 

From  Hawaii  we  must  take  a  long  voyage  to  the  south- 
east, in  order  to  reach  the  eastern  groups  of  Polynesia,  the 
Marquesas  Islands,  and  the  Paumotu  Islands,  with  a  total 
population  of  only  9500.  Both  of  these  groups  may,  however, 
be  quickly  passed  over,  since  evangelical  missions,  represented 
in  them  by  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association  and  the  Paris 
Missionary  Society,  have  only  some  1000  adherents  altogether. 
In  both  groups  the  Catholics  have  intruded  themselves,  and, 
favoured  by  the  French  occupation,  have  succeeded  in  hamper- 
ing the  work  of  evangelical  missions. 

279.  The  Society  Islands,  lying  next  to  the  Paumotu 
Islands  on  the  west,  are  of  outstanding  importance  in  the 
history  of  evangelical  missions.  These  are  divided  into  the 
Eastern  or  Windward  group — Tahiti,  Murea,  etc. ;  and  the 
Western  or  Leeward  group — Eaiatea,  etc.  In  Tahiti,  whose 
inhabitants,  as  cheerful  as  they  were  immoral,  had  roused  their 
discoverers  to  enthusiasm,  the  L.  M.  S.  began  its  work  in  1797, 
amid  many  mistakes,  disillusionments,  and  discouragements.1 
When,  after  sixteen  years  of  patient  labour,  some  hundreds  of 
islanders  at  last  professed  their  readiness  to  become  catechu- 
mens, a  sanguinary  struggle  ensued,  and  only  a  sweeping 
victory  (in  1815)  of  King  Pomare,  who  favoured  the  Christians, 
gained  the  day  for  the  mission.  The  idols  were  burned,  the 
old  heathen  customs  were  abolished,  and  after  Pomare,  the 
"  Clovis  of  the  South  Seas,"  had  in  1819  submitted  to  baptism, 
his  example  was  followed  in  the  period  up  to  1826  by  8000  of 
his  subjects.  By  1835  the  whole  Bible  had  been  translated, 
and  Christian  morality  had  been  raised  to  the  position  of  law. 
Attracted  by  these  successes,  a  violent  Catholic  propaganda 
intruded  itself  in  1836,  under  the  protection  of  French  war- 
ships, and  stirred  up  confusion;  in  1842  a  French  protectorate 
was  forced  on  the  islands,  and  full  annexation  followed  in 
1880,  with  the  proclamation  of  Catholicism  as  the  State 
religion.2  In  spite  of  this,  the  Catholic  counter-mission  gained 
little  foothold.  The  congregations  already  under  the  care  of 
native  pastors  proved  themselves  more  firmly  established  in 
the  evangelical  confession  than  had  been  expected ;  the  Paris 
Missionary  Society  had  to  take  the  place  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  which 
was  expelled,  and  from  1863  onward  it  gradually  succeeded  in 

1  Cousins,  The  Story  of  the  South  Seas,  London,  1894,  chaps,  i.-iv.  Home, 
The  Story  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  London,  1894,  chaps,  ii.  and  viii. 
Lovett,  The  History  of  the  L.  M.  S.,  i.  p.  117. 

-  Fritehard,  Missionary's  Reward:  Gospel  in  the  Pacific,  London,  1844. 


OCEANIA  385 

constituting  a  French  National  Church  of  Tahiti,  which  now 
numbers  4500  adult  members  in  the  whole  group  (11,000 
Christians).  The  French  Catholic  occupation  has,  however, 
acted  very  detrimentally  on  the  moral  life  of  the  islanders. — 
Owing  to  the  interposition  of  the  British  Government,  the 
western  Society  Islands  remained,  to  begin  with,  untouched  by 
the  French  protectorate.  In  Eaiatea,  the  largest  of  these, 
John  Williams,  the  most  renowned  of  all  South  Sea  mission- 
aries, had  been  located  since  1819 ;  he  prepared  the  way  for 
its  Christianisation,  and  made  it  the  starting-point  of  his 
extensive  missionary  voyages.1  In  the  year  1888,  however, 
these  western  islands  were  also  incorporated  in  the  French 
colonial  possessions;  the  London  missionaries  were  expelled, 
and  the  Paris  Missionary  Society  was  under  the  necessity  of 
taking  over  this  mission  field  also.  The  church  life  has 
suffered  much  harm  under  the  resistance  which  the  natives 
offered  to  French  acts  of  violence.  —  The  French  Austral 
Islands,  likewise  belonging  to  the  Society  Islands,  and  number- 
ing only  1800  inhabitants,  were  Christianised  from  Tahiti,  and 
have  till  now  remained  wholly  evangelical.  They,  too,  had 
to  be  given  over  to  the  Paris  Missionary  Society,  which, 
however,  really  does  no  more  than  superintend  the  native 
pastors. 

The  Hervey  Archipelago,  which  lies  farther  to  the  west 
and  came  in  1888  under  British  rule,  is  also  completely 
Christianised  and  civilised.  Earotonga  is  the  largest  of  its 
islands,  and  also  the  best  known, — in  former  times  through 
Williams  and  Gill,  the  translator  of  the  Bible,  and  now  on 
account  of  its  excellent  mission  school.  Meinicke  (vol.  ii.  pp. 
150  sq.)  writes  :  "  In  this  archipelago  the  (London)  missionaries 
have  been  able  to  work  since  1821,  without  being  disturbed  by 
the  intrusion  of  Catholic  elements.  It  cannot  be  denied  that 
they  have  here  attained  extraordinary  results, — among  a 
specially  gifted  people,  it  is  true, — and  have  promoted  the 
development  of  a  civilisation  not  to  be  equalled  in  any  other 
part  of  Polynesia.  To  their  zeal  and  efforts,  too,  must  partly 
be  ascribed  the  salutary  and  praiseworthy  work  accomplished 
by  the  Earotongans  trained  by  them  as  teachers,  in  the  con- 
version of  the  inhabitants  of  other  islands  as  far  as  Melanesia 
and  even  New  Guinea."  The  total  number  of  Christians  in 
the  Hervey  Islands  to-day  may  be  about  10,000,  including  the 
Christians  in  the  Manihiki  Islands,  to  the  northward,  and  in 
Savage  Island  (Nine),  to  the  westward,  to  which  the  Gospel 
was  brought  by  a  Samoan  evangelist  and  by  Dr.  Lawes.  Un- 
happily not  a  little  damage  has  been  done  to  the  moral  and 
1  Prout,  Memoirs  of  the  Life  of  John  Williams,  London,  1843. 
25 


386  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

religious  life  by  contact  with  civilisation,  particularly  by  the 
importing  of  gin. 

280.  The  Samoan  group,  which  was  opened  up  by  Williams, 
and  which  has  now  become  in  the  main  German  (4  islands 
with  32,000  inhabitants),  and  in  part  also  American  (1  island, 
Tutuila,  with  6000  inhabitants)  territory,  is  completely  Chris- 
tianised, and  has  32,000  evangelical  Christians.  In  this  group, 
contrary  to  agreement,  Wesleyan  missionaries  also  settled 
themselves  alongside  of  the  London  missionaries,  and  unfor- 
tunately they  were  followed  by  Catholics  as  well,  which  occa- 
sioned much  confusion.  Here,  too,  the  progress  of  Christianity 
was  surprisingly  rapid,  although  wars  repeatedly  broke  out  in 
which  there  was  a  recrudescence  of  heathenism.1  By  1863  the 
whole  Bible  had  been  translated  by  Pratt  and  Turner,  and  it 
was  printed  by  the  Samoans  themselves.  The  security  con- 
sequent on  the  work  of  the  missionaries  was  favourable  to  the 
settlement  of  numerous  European  and  American  merchants. 
Unfortunately,  the  jealous  competition  of  the  three  Western 
Powers  for  dominion  over  the  islands  involved  the  natives  in 
many  sanguinary  quarrels,  which  proved  a  source  of  much 
harm  to  their  spiritual  life.  In  the  whole  group  of  islands  there 
are  to-day  32,000  baptized  evangelical  Christians.  The  rest  are 
Catholics. — From  the  beginning  of  the  Sixties  the  Gospel  was 
propagated  by  converted  Samoans  and  Earotongans  also  in  the 
little  groups  of  the  Tokelau  and  Ellice  Islands,  and  in  the  five 
most  southerly  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  which  last,  however, 
belong  to  Micronesia.  The  first  two  groups  are  already  wholly 
Christianised,  and  in  the  Southern  Gilbert  Islands  more  than 
half  of  the  people  are  Christians.  Out  of  the  10,500  islanders 
there  are  altogether  6700  Christians,  whom  the  L.  M.  S.  has 
under  its  care. 

281.  In  the  Tonga  or  Friendly  Islands,  which  lie  to  the 
south-west  of  Samoa,  and  now  belong  to  Britain,  the  London 
missionaries  were  again  the  pioneers.  In  1822,  however,  this 
field  was  given  over  entirely  to  the  Wesleyans,  who  have  Chris- 
tianised it  and  kept  it  in  their  possession  without  aid  or  inter- 
ference, except  that  the  Catholics  have  insinuated  themselves 
and  taken  up  their  position,  especially  in  some  small  islands — 
Uea  or  Wales,  etc. — which  have  been  annexed  by  France.2 
There  are  about  17,000  evangelicals  and  3000  Catholics. 
Here,  too,  after  failure  at  the  outset,  the  political  struggles 
between  the  heathen  and  Christian  parties  ended  in  the  victory 
of  Christianity,  when  the  chief  Taufaahau,  a  friend  of  the 
Christians,  who  became  afterwards  King  George,  attained  to 

1  Turner,  Nineteen  Years'  Missionary  Life  in  Polynesia,  London,  1880. 

2  West,  Ten  Years  in  South  Central  Polynesia,  London,  1865. 


OCEANIA  387 

sole  dominion.  This  universally  esteemed  prince,  who  only 
died  in  1893,  at  the  age  of  100  years,  was  not  only  able  to 
maintain  the  independence  of  his  well-ruled  little  island  king- 
dom, but  was  also,  by  his  personal  piety,  a  bright  example  to 
his  people.1  When  his  minister,  Baker,  a  former  missionary 
and  a  violent  man,  was  in  power,  the  king,  in  his  displeasure 
with  an  arrangement  of  the  Australian  Wesleyan  Missionary 
Conference,  formed  in  1884  a  free  church  independent  of  the 
Conference ;  but  since  the  removal  of  Baker  from  the  island 
the  vexatious  frictions  which  this  act  occasioned  among  the 
Christian  population  have  disappeared. 

282.  The  Viti  or  Fiji  Islands,  the  most  westerly  of  the 
Polynesian  archipelagoes,  with  the  two  chief  islands  of  Viti 
Levu  and  Vanua  Levu,  are  also  almost  wholly  Christianised.2 
The  Wesleyans  are  here  again  the  only  workers,  excepting  the 
S.  P.  G.,  which  does  mission  work  mainly  among  the  imported 
labouring  population,  and  the  Catholics.  Of  the  95,000  native 
Fijians  and  4000  other  Polynesians,  about  90,000  are  evan- 
gelical Christians.  The  victory  gained  by  the  Gospel  in  a 
comparatively  short  time  over  these  once  rude  cannibals  forms 
one  of  the  most  fascinating  chapters  in  the  history  of  modern 
missions.  The  victory  was  not  gained,  however,  without 
warlike  struggles,  in  which  Thakombau,  afterwards  the  ex- 
cellent Christian  king,  was  aided  by  George,  the  king  of  the 
Tongans.  After  preparatory  attempts  on  the  part  of  teachers 
from  Tahiti,  the  first  Wesleyan  evangelists  and  missionaries 
from  Tonga  began  in  1825  their  dangerous  work  amid  con- 
tinuous wars  and  scenes  of  horror.  Of  the  evangelists,  Joel 
Bulu 3  exerted  a  great  influence  :  the  first  missionaries  were 
Calvert  and  Hunt.  After  two  decades,  within  which  the 
whole  Bible  had  been  translated,  a  third  part  of  the  population 
was  already  under  the  influence  of  the  Gospel.  And  yet  so 
late  as  1867,  missionary  Baker  was  murdered  by  the  hostile 
heathen.  In  1874  the  islands  were  annexed  by  Britain  at  the 
desire  of  the  king,  who  was  being  oppressed  by  the  French. 

1  The  German  Imperial  Government,  in  one  of  its  official  memorials,  paid 
him  the  following  tribute:  "King  George,  who  both  by  wars,  skilfully  and 
courageously  carried  on,  and  by  wise  measures  of  government  and  circumspect 
diplomacy,  has  succeeded  in  uniting  under  his  sceptre  the  different  groups  of 
the  Tonga  Archipelago,  is  a  ruler  who  has  at  heart  the  real  good  of  his  people. 
He  is  striving  to  procure  for  them  the  advantages,  which  he  himself  recognises, 
of  a  higher  state  of  civilisation,  and  for  this  reason  he  is  universally  beloved. 
In  the  personality  of  the  king,  therefore,  there  is  also  a  guarantee  of  the  just 
treatment  of  the  Europeans  living  in  the  Tonga  Islands." 

2  Rowe,  Fiji  and  the  Fijians,  by  Thomas  Williams,  and  Missionary  Labours 
among  the  Cannibals,  by  Calvert,  2  vols.,  London,  1870.  Warneck,  Missions- 
stunden,  II.  i.,  4th  ed.,  Nos.  17-19. 

3  Joel  Bulu,  The  Autobiography  of  a  Native  Minister  in  the  South  Seas, 
London,  1871. 


388  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Soon  afterwards  a  fearful  epidemic  of  measles  broke  out,  which 
carried  off  about  35,000,  almost  the  third  part  of  the  popula- 
tion at  that  time.  But  few  of  the  Christians,  however,  fell 
away,  although  the  heathen  remnant  did  not  fail  to  represent 
the  epidemic  as  a  punishment  by  the  gods  for  the  acceptance 
of  Christianity  and  of  British  rule.  The  old  heathen  customs 
have  been  completely  abolished. 

The  English  Governor,  Gordon,  testifies  :  "  A  work  has  been 
done  here  which  for  thoroughness  and  magnanimity  surpasses 
all  my  expectations."  Over  1300  churches  and  chapels  have 
been  built  by  the  natives  themselves,  and  the  congregations  are 
under  the  pastoral  care  of  native  ministers  ;  the  large  seminary 
for  preachers  located  since  1873  at  Navuloa  in  Viti  Levu  has 
over  100  pupils,  and  from  it  many  evangelists  have  gone  forth 
to  other  islands  of  the  South  Seas ;  in  1450  mission  schools, 
more  than  25,000  children  receive  instruction ;  native  judges 
administer  justice,  and  native  physicians  treat  the  sick, — in 
short,  the  old  Fiji  has  passed  away  and  a  new  Fiji  has  arisen. 
Also  on  the  little  island  of  Eotuma,  lying  northwards  from 
Fiji,  more  than  1600  out  of  the  2200  inhabitants  are  evangelical 
Christians.  A  religious  war  occasioned  by  the  French  Eoman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  intruded  into  the  island  in  1847, 
occasioned  great  confusion  ;  but  since  the  English  took  posses- 
sion of  the  island  in  1879  there  has  been  peace. 

Section  2.  Melanesia 

283.  To  the  west  of  the  Fiji  Islands,  which  are  now  indeed 
ethnographically  included  in  it,  lies  Melanesia.  It  is  divided 
into  six  archipelagoes,  which  lie  in  a  curve  round  about  the 
mainland  of  Australia  in  the  following  order,  from  south  to 
north  and  north-west :  New  Caledonia,  New  Hebrides,  Queen 
Charlotte  or  Santa  Cruz  Islands,  Solomon  Islands,  New  Britain, 
now  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  and  New  Guinea.  These  archi- 
pelagoes are  inhabited  by  a  dark-skinned  population,  with  many 
languages,  either  Papuas  or  of  the  Papua  type,  who  were 
specially  notorious,  and  to  some  extent  still  are  so,  for  their 
wildness  and  their  distrustful  and  thievish  manner  of  life.  In 
some  of  these  archipelagoes  the  climate  is  very  unhealthy. 
Missions  are  here  much  more  recent  than  in  Polynesia,  and  in 
consequence  they  are  still  to  a  large  extent  in  the  initial  stage 
of  difficulty  and  frequent  peril,  and  so  are  surrounded  with  a 
certain  romance.  The  chief  evangelical  missionary  agencies  at 
work  in  Melanesia,,  besides  the  London  and  the  Wesleyan 
societies,  are  the  Anglican  Melanesian  Mission,  the  Scottish, 
American,  and  Australian   Presbyterians,  with   two   German 


OCEANIA  389 

societies  and  one  Dutch.  In  several  groups  the  pioneer  work 
of  the  mission  has  been  done  by  native  Polynesian  evangelists, 
among  whom  there  have  been  a  large  number  of  men  who  were 
ripe  Christians  and  as  brave  as  they  were  able.  Here,  as  in 
Polynesia  and  in  Micronesia  also,  mission  ships  are  an  indis- 
pensable means  of  communication. 

In  New  Caledonia  proper,  the  most  southern  of  the 
Melanesian  archipelago,  of  which  France  took  possession  in 
1853  in  order  to  establish  a  penal  colony  there,  the  Eoman 
Catholic  mission,  which  was  strongly  supported  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  made  use  of  coercive  measures,  for  a  long  time  alone 
occupied  the  field.  But  a  short  time  ago,  in  the  middle  of  the 
Nineties  of  last  century,  some  simple  native  teachers  from  the 
neighbouring  Loyalty  Islands  began  evangelistic  work  among 
the  natives,  who  were  in  a  very  low  stage  of  civilisation ;  and 
this  work,  in  spite  of  all  Catholic  opposition,  and  at  first  of 
suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  Government,  had  surprising 
results.  In  1899  the  attention  of  the  Paris  Evangelical  M.  S. 
was  called  to  this  work,  and  it  has  now  undertaken  to  provide 
for  the  regular  care  of  the  work,  which  is  of  a  kind  to  warrant 
the  best  hopes  ;  1700  evangelical  natives  of  New  Caledonia  are 
already  under  the  supervision  of  a  Paris  missionary,  and  cared 
for  by  20  native  teachers. 

The  Loyalty  Islands,  which  belong  to  New  Caledonia,  have 
had  a  troubled  history.  The  mission  work  of  the  L.  M.  S., 
begun  in  them  in  1841  by  native  Polynesians,  and  carried 
forward  with  a  patience  as  great  as  the  success,  has  been  led 
along  a  way  of  severe  testing  and  suffering  in  consequence  of 
the  wily  machinations  of  the  Catholic  mission  and  the  very 
violent  attacks  of  the  French  colonial  administration.  Never- 
theless, the  larger  half  of  the  population  (7800)  has  remained 
faithful  to  the  evangelical  confession.  On  Mare,  from  which 
Mr.  Jones,  a  missionary  of  great  merit,  was  violently  deported 
in  1887,  it  was  found  necessary  to  form  a  free  church,  which 
is  under  the  supervision  of  a  Paris  missionary ;  while  on  Lifu 
and  Uvea  the  congregations  have  been  able  to  remain  in  con- 
nection with  the  L.  M.  S.j 

284  In  the  New  Hebrides  we  enter  the  most  largely  occu- 
pied and  most  hopeful  of  the  evangelical  mission  fields  of 
Melanesia,  the  field,  too,  which  has  been  most  consecrated  by 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs.  This  archipelago  of  many  islands, 
for  the  possession  of  which  there  is  a  jealous  rivalry  between 
the  colonial  ambition  of  England  and  of  France,  is  divided  into 
the  Northern — Torres  and  Banks  Islands ;  the  Central — from 
Espirito  Santo  or  Merena  to  Efate;  and  the  Southern  New 
Hebrides — Eromanga,  Tanna,  and  Aneityum.    In  respect  of  the 


390  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

inhabitants,  however,  there  is  little  difference.  They  are  all 
warlike  savages,  who,  moreover,  by  the  infamous  deeds l  con- 
nected with  the  trade  in  sandal-wood  and  the  labour  traffic, 
have  been  filled  with  distrust  and  hatred  towards  the  mission- 
aries, of  whom  many,  like  J.  Williams  and  Patteson,  have 
fallen  victims  to  these  feelings.  The  Northern  Islands  are 
occupied  mainly  by  the  Melanesian  Mission,  the  Central  and 
Southern  Islands  by  the  various  branches  of  Presbyterians. 
The  number  of  evangelical  Christians  in  all  the  islands  together 
may  amount  at  present  to  22,000,  the  fourth  part  of  the  whole 
population,  which  numbers  85,000.  Of  the  25  languages 
or  dialects  spoken  by  the  islanders,  who  are  divided  into 
numerous  little  tribes,  13  are  already  reduced  to  writing,  and 
portions  of  the  Bible  have  been  printed  in  them. 

In  the  Southern  Islands  Presbyterian  missions  have  done 
their  costly  but  successful  work.  In  Aneityum  it  was  possible 
to  set  this  beautiful  inscription  on  a  memorial  to  the  Scotch- 
man, Geddie :  "When  he  came  to  the  island  in  1848  there 
was  not  a  single  Christian ;  when  he  left  in  1872  there  was 
not  a  single  heathen."  Aniwa  has  been  Christianised  by  the 
courageous  Paton,2  whom  the  most  perilous  experiences  among 
the  savages  of  Tanna,  who  drove  him  from  the  island,  were 
not  enough  to  discourage.  Eromanga,  which  is  notorious  for 
the  murder  of  Williams  and  the  two  Gordons,  lias  also  been 
now  almost  entirely  won  for  Christianity.3  In  Futuna,  which 
has  likewise  been  drenched  with  blood,  the  harvest  is  only  now 
beginning.  In  the  southern  half  of  the  Central  New  Hebrides 
group  the  work  is  still  to  a  great  extent  in  the  initial  stages. 
The  Presbyterians  have  already  achieved  good  results  there, 
especially  in  Efate,  Nguna,  and  Epi.  The  Norwegian  Michelsen, 
in  Tongoa,  one  of  the  Shepherd  group,  after  being  often  threat- 
ened with  death  by  the  savage  cannibal  people,  has  had  the 
joyful  experience  of  seeing  the  last  heathen  converted  to 
Christianity.  The  northern  half  of  the  New  Hebrides  group 
is  almost  exclusively  a  field  of  the  Melanesian  Mission,  which 
has  its  headquarters  in  Norfolk  Island,  about  half-way  between 
New  Caledonia  and  New  Zealand.  From  that  centre  it  sends 
out  its  native  workers  after  preliminary  training,  stations  them, 
and  visits  them  by  ship. 

285.  Both  in  the  Northern  New  Hebrides  and  in  the  Santa 
Cruz  and  Solomon  Islands,  which  lie  next  to  them  on  the 
north  and  north-west  respectively,  the  Melanesian  Mission  is 

1  Warneck,  Modern  Missions  and  Culture,  p.  228. 

2  John  G.  Paton,  Missionary  to  the  Ncxo  Hebrides:  an  Autobiography,  5th 
ed.,  London,  1889. 

"Warneck,   Missions-stundcn,  II.   i.   315  :    "An   Island  of  Murderers  and 
Martyrs. " 


OCEANIA  391 

the  only  worker.  While  in  the  Banks  Islands  and  also  in  the 
Florida  Islands — the  British  Solomon  group — considerable  re- 
sults have  been  attained  (together  8500  Christians).  Elsewhere 
in  this  extensive  field  the  light  is  still  in  conflict  with  deep 
darkness,  and  is  succeeding  only  very  gradually  in  dispelling  it. 
Altogether  in  28  islands  of  the  New  Hebrides  and  Solomon 
groups  the  Melanesian  Mission  has  100  stations,  with  380 
native  teachers  and  13,000  baptized  Christians.  The  most 
eminent  personality  in  the  service  of  the  Melanesian  Mission 
was  Patteson,  its  second  bishop,  a  distinguished  man,  full  of 
patience  and  humility,  of  self-denial  and  courage,  who — like 
John  Williams  in  Eromanga — was  murdered  in  the  island  of 
Nukapu  in  the  Santa  Cruz  group  in  1877,  a  sacrifice  to  the 
vengeance  of  the  islanders  for  their  shameful  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  the  whites.1  On  the  Solomon  islands  (New  Georgia), 
belonging  to  Britain,  the  Australian  Wesleyans  have  begun  a 
mission  in  1902,  but  it  is  still  in  its  beginnings. 

In  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  which  has  been  since  1884 
a  German  protectorate,  the  Wesleyans  of  Australia  have  since 
1875  carried  on  a  mission,  with  numerous  native  evangelists 
from  Fiji  and  Tonga,  in  the  islands  of  New  Pomerania,  New 
Lauenburg,  and  New  Mecklenburg,  among  a  population  of 
savages  who  are  still  untamed.  In  New  Pomerania  the  stations 
are  in  the  north  of  the  island,  and  in  New  Mecklenburg  about 
the  middle  of  the  west  coast.  At  first  there  was  a  melancholy 
military  conflict  with  the  islanders,  occasioned  by  the  murder 
of  four  Fijian  teachers ;  but  now  the  mission  has  gradually 
gathered,  at  4  chief  stations  and  140  out-stations,  5500 
baptized  Christians  (2200  communicants),  who  make  con- 
siderable contributions  for  the  support  of  their  churches. 
Over  15,000  are  registered  as  participating  in  public  worship. 
A  notorious  old  magician  at  his  baptism  confessed  with  tears : 
"  How  many  people  are  lying  in  the  grave,  the  victims  of  my 
poisoned  draughts !  And  now  I  am  afraid  of  Him  who  has 
power  to  destroy  both  body  and  soul  in  hell.  To-day  I  will 
make  an  end.  I  know  the  Gospel  and  I  will  follow  it.  My 
life  is  nearly  past,  but  I  put  my  trust  in  God,  that  for  the  sake 
of  His  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  He  will  give  me  the  life  ever- 
lasting." Unfortunately,  the  Catholic  mission,  which  has 
pushed  right  into  the  field  of  the  Wesleyans,  is  endeavouring 
as  much  as  possible,  by  its  intriguing  devices,  to  hurt  and  throw 
suspicion  on  evangelical  mission  work.2 

1  Yonge,  Life  of  J.  C.  Patteson,  5  th  ed.,  London,  1875.  Armstrong,  The 
History  of  the  Melanesian  Mission,  London,  1900. 

2  The  particular  proofs  of  these  intrigues,  and  of  the  unchristian  manner  of 
Roman  Catholic  missionary  enterprise,  are  given  in  Allgem.  Miss.  Zeitschr., 
1895,  547  ;  and  1897,  134. 


392  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

286.  New  Guinea  is  now  divided  into  three  protectorates, 
the  Dutch,  German,  and  British,  but  its  interior  is  still 
unexplored.  The  oldest  mission  is  in  the  north-west,  in  the 
Dutch  part  of  the  island.  There  the  Gossner  missionaries, 
Ottow  and  Geissler,  sent  out  at  the  instance  of  Heldring, 
began  a  mission  at  Dore  Bay,  or  rather  in  Manaswari,  the 
little  island  opposite  to  it ;  this  mission  has  been  a  labour  of 
patience,  attended  with  much  danger  and  privation,  and  has 
been  prosecuted  very  faithfully  by  the  Utrecht  Missionary 
Union;  it  has  now  5  stations  with  260  Christians,  but  it 
has  exerted  a  civilising  influence  full  of  blessing  on  all  the 
population  round  about. — In  Kaiser  Wilhelm  Land  there  are 
two  German  missions,  still  in  the  initial  stages,  begun  by  the 
Neuendettelsau,  and  the  Bhenish  Missionary  Societies  in  1886 
and  1887  respectively.  The  former  has  5  stations  in  the 
Finsch  Haven  district ;  the  latter  has  4  stations  in  the 
region  about  Astrolabe  Bay.  The  initial  work  has  been  made 
very  difficult  by  the  investigation  required  by  the  language, 
with  its  numerous  dialects  within  a  small  extent  of  country, 
by  the  climate,  to  which  many  lives  have  been  sacrificed,  and 
by  the  intellectual  dulness  of  the  barbarous  population,  broken 
up  as  it  is  into  many  little  tribes  at  enmity  with  each  other. 
It  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  already  a  success  that  the 
natives  have  now  some  confidence  in  the  missionaries,  and 
some  faint  understanding  of  what  they  are  really  seeking  to  do. 
The  Neuendettelsau  missionaries  have  baptized  their  first-fruits ; 
in  the  Khenish  mission  the  first  Papuan  was  baptized  in  1904. 
But  an  insurrection  at  the  end  of  the  same  year  has  rendered 
very  doubtful  the  continuance  of  two  of  the  stations  of  this 
society. — The  south-eastern  portion  of  the  island,  which  is  a 
British  protectorate,  has  proved  beyond  all  expectation  a 
fruitful  mission  field.  This  success  has  been  attained  since 
1872,  under  the  direction  of  eminent  London  missionaries, 
such  as  Murray,  Macfarlane,  Chalmers,  Lawes,  by  planting 
at  successive  stations  increasing  bands  of  brave  Polynesian 
teachers,  many  of  whom  succumbed  to  the  climate,  while 
others  were  murdered.  At  11  central  points,  stretching 
from  Port  Moresby  as  far  as  the  Gulf  of  Papua  and  the  Fly 
Eiver,  of  which  four  are  chief  stations,  the  L.  M.  S.  has 
gathered  here  9000  Christians,  of  whom  2800  are  communi- 
cants, and  3000  scholars ;  it  has  established  seminaries  for  the 
training  of  native  helpers,  translated  the  New  Testament  into 
the  Motu  language,  and  some  portions  of  it  into  other  languages 
as  well,  and  extended  an  elevating  moral  influence  over  nearly 
the  whole  coast.1     Only,  twelve  European  missionaries  are  not 

1  Murray,  Forty  Years'  Mission  Work  in  Polynesia  and  New  Guinea  (1835- 


OCEANIA  393 

sufficient  for  the  ever-extending  field.  Unhappily,  two  of 
them — one,  the  noble  Chalmers — were  murdered  in  1901,  along 
with  12  native  helpers,  upon  the  little  island  Goaribari,  in  an 
attempt  to  make  peace  between  two  savage  tribes  that  were  at 
enmity,  and  so  institute  among  them  a  new  mission  centre. — 
Besides  the  L.  M.  S.,  the  Australian  Anglicans  have  also  been 
at  work  on  the  north  coast  of  British  New  Guinea  since  1891, 
and  the  Australian  Wesleyans  during  the  same  time  in  the 
D'Entrecasteaux  and  Louisiade  Islands  lying  off  the  south-east 
promontory.  The  Anglicans  have  as  yet  achieved  little  success 
(600  Christians),  but  the  results  already  attained  by  the 
Wesleyans  have  been  considerable  (2000  baptized  and  14,000 
adherents). 

Section  3.  Micronesia 

287.  North  of  western  Melanesia  and  almost  parallel  with 
it  lies  Micronesia,  with  its  abundance  of  small  islands,  which, 
however,  have  a  population  of  no  more  than  about  100,000, 
akin  to  the  Polynesians.  Micronesia  is  divided  into  three  archi- 
pelagoes,— the  Gilbert  and  Marshall  Islands,  the  Carolines  and 
the  Ladrones  or  Mariannes.  The  first  of  these  archipelagoes — 
Gilbert  Islands — is  a  British  protectorate ;  the  Marshall  Islands, 
and  now  also  the  Carolines,  which  by  a  papal  arbitration 
procured  on  Bismarck's  initiative  became  temporarily  Spanish, 
are  a  German  protectorate,  to  which  the  Ladrones  and  the 
Pelew  Islands  have  also  been  added.  With  the  exception  of 
the  five  most  southerly  of  the  Gilbert  Islands  (4000  Christians), 
which  still  belong  to  the  South  Sea  mission  field  of  the  L.  M.  S., 
almost  the  whole  of  Micronesia  (except  the  Ladrones)  has  been 
occupied  since  1852  by  the  Hawaiian  Evangelical  Association, 
which  is  under  the  superintendence  of  the  American  Board. 
There  are  4  principal  and  63  out-stations,  and  the  work  is 
conducted  mainly  by  native  teachers,  of  whom  22  are  ordained 
and  140  are  unordained.  In  this  extensive  mission  field  there 
are,  besides  7  unmarried  ladies,  only  10  American  missionaries, 
who  are  engaged  partly  in  conducting  the  training  institutions 
for  these  native  teachers,  partly  in  visiting  them  on  board  a 
special  mission-ship.  The  number  is  so  small  that  there  is  not 
sufficient  oversight  of  the  native  workers,  who  are  not  always 
fully  equal  for  their  duties.  These  workers  have  nevertheless 
exerted  a  surprisingly  great  Christianising  and  civilising 
influence  on  the  Micronesian  islanders,  who  are  comparatively 
good-natured ;  of  their  number,  17,500  are  regarded  as  Christian 

1875),   London,    1876.      Chalmers    and   Gill,    New    Guinea :    Journeys    and 
Missionary  Activity  during  the  Years  1877-1885. 


394  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

adherents,  and  6600  are  communicants.  Repeatedly  the 
population  of  a  whole  island  have  turned  to  Christianity,  and 
broken  with  idolatry  and  the  coarse  heathen  practices. 
Relapses  and  even  sanguinary  brawls  have  indeed  not  been 
wanting,  and  no  very  high  standard  of  holiness  can  be  applied 
to  the  Christianity  of  these  Micronesians,  converted,  as  many 
of  them  have  been,  through  the  agency  of  very  imperfect 
instruments. 

288.  Of  the  Gilbert  Islands  the  most  important  for  missions 
are  Tapiteuea,  Nonouti,  Tarawa,  Apaiang,  and  Butaritari.  In 
the  Marshall  Islands,  which  are  composed  of  the  two  parallel 
chains  of  the  Ratak  and  Raliki  Islands,  the  most  important 
are  Ebon  and  Jalut.  The  centre  from  which  the  work  in  both 
of  these  groups  is  directed  is  the  island  of  Kusaie  in  the 
Carolines,  which  is  also  the  seat  of  the  chief  seminary.  The 
German  occupation  of  the  Marshall  Archipelago  caused  at  the 
first  various  disturbances,  which  might  perhaps  have  been 
avoided  if  American  missionaries  had  been  stationed  in  the 
islands.  Meanwhile  a  Catholic  counter-mission  has  been 
proselytising,  not  without  success,  among  the  evangelical 
natives  of  both  groups  of  islands.  Much  more  serious  were 
the  disturbances  in  the  Carolines,  especially  in  Ponape,  the 
principal  island,  when  in  the  most  brutal  fashion  Spain  took 
possession  of  them,  banished  the  evangelical  missionaries,  even 
sending  one  of  them — the  aged  Doane — as  a  prisoner  to 
Manila,  and  gave  its  aid  to  a  coercive  Catholic  propaganda. 
Only  now,  since  the  German  occupation  of  the  islands,  have 
the  evangelical  missionaries  been  permitted  to  return  to 
Ponape.  During  their  abandonment,  the  Christians,  parti- 
cularly under  the  leadership  of  a  fearless  missionary  helper, 
"  Prince  "  Nanpei,  sought  to  edify  themselves  as  well  as  they 
could.  Of  course,  under  the  Spanish  rule  and  the  violent 
Catholic  propaganda,  there  has  been  a  retrogression  in  the 
native  Christianity,  both  in  numbers  and  in  quality.  On  most 
of  the  other  Caroline  Islands,  however,  mission  work  has  been 
little  affected  by  Spanish  rule.  Along  with  the  principal 
centres  in  Ponape  and  Kusaie,  the  Mortlock  and  Rook  groups 
form  the  most  fruitful  mission  field. — In  the  Ladrones 
(Mariannes)  an  evangelical  mission  has  been  started  by  the 
American  Board  in  1900. 

Section  4.  Australia 

289.  From  Micronesia  we  turn  again  southward,  passing 
over  Melanesia  to  the  mainland  of  Australia,  the  Papua 
population  of  which  is  related  to  the  Melanesians,  and  is  on  the 


OCEANIA  395 

lowest  level  of  civilisation.  The  settlement,  first  of  English 
criminals  and  then  of  increasing  bands  of  colonists  from  almost 
all  the  Western  nations,  has  made  this  great  continent  entirely 
a  domain  of  the  whites,  as  far  at  least  as  the  nature  of 
the  soil  permits  colonisation,  namely,  mainly  on  its  southern 
and  eastern  margin.  The  total  white  population  numbers 
at  present  4  millions.  These  white  settlers  have  gradually 
formed  themselves  into  5  colonies,  comparatively  independent 
of  the  English  mother  country, — Queensland,  New  South 
Wales,  Victoria,  South  Australia,  and  West  Australia ;  and  in 
addition  to  these  there  is  the  colony  of  Tasmania,  the  island 
lying  off  the  south  of  the  continent.  The  three  first-named 
colonies  in  particular  have  their  own  independently  organised 
church  communities,  which,  as  was  said  before,  carry  on 
mission  work  with  more  or  less  independence  and  energy. 
Before  this  great  flood  of  immigration  the  poor  native  popula- 
tion has  in  great  part  disappeared, — to  the  last  man  in  Tasmania, 
where  not  one  of  the  aborigines  is  left,  and  all  but  a  widely 
scattered  remnant  of  at  most  50,000  in  the  vast  expanse  of 
Australia.  So  inhuman  was  the  barbarity  with  which  these 
unhappy  Papuas  in  past  times  were  not  only  forced  back,  dis- 
possessed, and  ill  treated,  but  deliberately  slaughtered,  shot 
clown  like  beasts,  and  poisoned  in  crowds,  that  we  can  hardly 
make  up  our  minds  to  believe  the  best  attested  reports  of  these 
enormities.  Only  since  1838,  when  a  society  was  formed  for  the 
protection  of  the  decadent  black  inhabitants  and  the  Govern- 
ment appointed  a  protector  for  them,  has  a  change  gradually 
taken  place  in  their  treatment  in  all  the  colonies,  and  now,  so 
far  as  they  can  be  reached,  they  are  the  object  of  benevolent 
care.  In  many  of  the  reservations  in  which  the  several  Govern- 
ments have  gathered  the  natives,  provision  is  made  for  their 
hearing  the  word  of  God.  The  various  missions,  too — Moravian, 
Australian  and  German  Lutheran,  Anglican  and  Presbyterian 
— which  devote  part  of  their  attention  to  the  Papuan  reserves, 
set  apart  and  subsidised  by  the  Government,  enjoy  both  official 
and  private  support.  The  missions  are  in  truth  diminutive. 
The  stations,  indeed,  are  numerous,  but  almost  all  are  small, 
and  at  these  the  saving  work  of  Christian  love  is  being  done 
faithfully  and  patiently,  with  very  modest  results.  Perhaps 
some  4000  to  5000  are  under  the  influence  of  the  mission,  but 
not  all  these  are  baptized. 

290.  In  Victoria  the  Moravians  have  two  well-known 
stations,  Ebenezer  and  Eamahyuk ;  the  latter  in  particular, 
under  the  able  direction  of  Hagenauer,  took  rank  as  a  model ; 
unhappily  the  first  had  to  be  closed  in  1903,  and  the  same 
fate  is  in  the  near  prospect  for  Eamahyuk,  since  it  now  numbers 


39<5  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

only  36  native  inhabitants.  The  two  Anglican  stations  and 
one  Presbyterian  are  also  working  amongst  a  moribund  race. — 
In  New  South  Wales  special  work  was  done  by  the  Anglican 
missionary  Gribble  (d,  1893),  who  rendered  most  meritorious 
and  self-sacrificing  service  for  the  well-being  of  the  Papuans. 
In  addition,  two  special  missionary  unions  with  6  stations 
and  a  number  of  ministers  of  different  churches  on  the 
numerous  reserves  have  interested  themselves  in  the  natives, 
and  perhaps  GOO  or  700  of  them  are  under  Christian  care. — In 
Queensland,  where  there  are  comparatively  many  Papuans, 
mission  work  is  carried  on  among  them  by  6  different  evan- 
gelical churches  and  some  independent  missionaries  at  10 
stations.  Most  worthy  of  regard  here  is  the  mission  in  North 
Queensland,  conducted  by  the  Moravians,  and  maintained 
financially  by  the  Australian  Presbyterians,  which  at  its  2 
stations  (Mapoon  and  Weipa)  has  exercised  a  surprising 
influence  in  a  comparatively  short  time  (together,  about  200 
Christians). — In  South  Australia  there  are  6  stations,  of  which 
Point  Macleay  is  the  largest,  and  2  are  German,  New 
Hermannsburg  and  Bethesda,  which  are  manned  by  the 
Australian  Immanuel  Synod  and  by  the  Neuendettelsau 
Society  (together,  500  Christians).  —  Lastly,  in  Western 
Australia  the  Anglican  Church  alone  carries  on  work  among 
the  Papuas,  mainly  from  Perth,  the  capital,  as  centre  (scarcely 
100  Christians). — More  hopeful  than  the  mission  to  this  dull 
and  dying  race  is  the  work  of  the  Anglicans,  Presbyterians, 
and  Wesleyans  among  the  numerous  immigrant  Chinese  (now 
over  30,000).  This  work  is  prosecuted  in  all  the  colonies,  and 
to  some  extent  by  the  agency  of  Chinese  evangelists.  Several 
thousands  of  these  strangers  from  the  Middle  Kingdom,  who 
have  been  received  so  inhospitably  by  the  Australians,  attend 
the  religious  services  instituted  for  their  benefit,  and  not  a  few 
of  them  return  home  as  Christians.  Also  among  the  thousands 
of  Oceanic  labourers,  the  so-called  Kanaka,  who  are  imported 
to  Australia,  the  work  of  missions  is  carried  on  with  increasing 
success.     Probably  3000  of  them  are  baptized  Christians. 

Section  5.  New  Zealand 

291.  In  conclusion,  we  pass  from  Australia  to  New  Zea- 
land, the  most  southerly  of  the  Oceanic  groups,  which  consists 
of  the  larger  and  more  populous  North  Island  and  the  smaller 
South  Island,  besides  a  number  of  little  islands.  The  Maori 
inhabitants  of  this  group,  who  seem,  unfortunately,  to  be 
destined  to  extinction,  number  now  only  about  43,000  (in- 
clusive of  half-breeds).     They  combine  with  a  certain  natural 


OCEANIA  397 

magnanimity  a  character  wild  and  passionate,  which  formerly 
made  them  greatly  feared,  and  which  has  repeatedly  broken 
forth  even  in  Christian  times.  The  0.  M.  S.  began  the  first 
mission  among  them  in  1814,  at  the  instigation  of  Marsden, 
the  noble  chaplain  of  the  English  convict  colony  at  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales.  He  intended  this  to  be  mainly  a  mission 
for  civilisation,  and  it  was  therefore  entrusted  to  artisans. 
The  theory  that  civilisation  must  precede  Christianisation  1 
was  in  practice  soon  found  wanting,  and  was  given  up,  and 
only  then  did  the  mission  come  into  a  path  of  blessing,  at 
first  very  slowly  and  then  with  rapid  strides.  This  was  the 
experience  also  of  the  Wesleyan  mission,  which  followed  the 
Anglican  in  1822.  From  the  middle  of  the  Thirties  onward, 
so  widespread  were  the  revivals,  that  in  1841  Bishop  Selwyn, 
with  perhaps  some  excess  of  rhetoric,  was  able  to  declare: 
"We  see  here  a  whole  nation  converted  from  heathenism 
to  Christianity."  Unfortunately,  this  same  bishop  during  this 
period  kept  back  the  training  of  a  native  pastorate,  an  omission 
which  bitterly  avenged  itself  in  the  troubles  that  followed. 
Through  the  Treaty  of  Waitangi  in  1840,  which  gave  the 
dominion  to  the  Queen  of  England,  and  assured  to  the  Maoris 
the  possession  of  their  lands,  a  flourishing  English  colony  was 
brought  into  being,  which  now  numbers  800,000  souls ;  with 
its  growth  a  fatal  land-question  developed  itself,  and  led  re- 
peatedly to  destructive  wars,  in  which  many  of  the  Maoris, 
whose  rights  had  been  violated,  fell  away  from  Christianity, 
and  formed  for  themselves,  in  Hauhauism,  a  coarse  bastard 
religion,  whose  fanatical  prophets  obtained  many  adherents. 
Only  very  gradually,  through  the  co-operation  of  able  and 
courageous  Maori  pastors,  has  the  injury  occasioned  by  this 
reaction  been  healed  and  the  Maori  church  been  reorganised. 
Even  yet  the  wild  Hauhauism,  with  its  offshoots,  has  not 
wholly  died  out,  but  it  seems  to  be  at  its  last  breath.2 

292.  At  over  40  stations  the  C.  M.  S.  has  now  gathered 
18,200  Maori  Christians,  who  are  cared  for  in  regard  to  church 
and  school  by  38  Maori  pastors  and  320  native  teachers ;  in 
1904,  however,  the  Colonial  Anglican  Church  took  these 
Maori  Christians  under  its  care,  and  therewith  the  Maori 
mission  in  general.  Besides  the  Anglicans,  the  Wesleyans 
also  have  3600  Maori  Christians,  and  there  may  be  1000 
attached  to  other  colonial  church  communities,  especially  the 
Presbyterian.     There  is  also  still  in  existence  in  the  small 

1  Warneck,  Modem  Missions  and  Culture,  p.  248. 

2  W.  Williams,  Christianity  among  the  New  Zealanders,  London,  1867. 
Buller,  Forty  Years  in  New  Zealand :  Ckristianisation,  London,  1878  ;  and 
New  Zealand,  Past  and  Present,  London,  1883. 


393  PROTESTANT  MISSIONS 

island  of  Euapuke,  to  the  south  of  South  Island,  a  congrega- 
tion established  by  former  missionaries  of  the  North  German 
Missionary  Society.  The  Hermannsburg  Mission,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  withdrawn  from  New  Zealand.  The  Mormons 
have  also  a  following  among  the  Maoris. 

293.  Gathering  together  the  statistical  results  of  the  Oceanic 
Missions,  we  find  approximately  the  following  numbers  of 
native  evangelical  Christians  in  the  several  divisions: — 

Polynesia 190,500 

Melanesia  .....  56,500 

Micronesia  .....  17,500 

Australia  .....  5,500 

New  Zealand 23,000 


Total  ....         293,000 

On  the  whole,  accordingly,  there  has  been  a  slight  backgoing, 
presumably  in  consequence  of  the  ever  more  aggressive 
propaganda  which  the  Catholic  counter-mission  is  carrying  on 
among  the  already  Christianised  islanders. 

Eoman  Catholic  Missions.    Appendix  to  Chapter  V 

Almost  everywhere  in  Oceania  Catholic  missions  entered  the  field 
later  than  Evangelical  ones,  and  they  have  not  by  any  means  made  the 
heathen  natives  the  sole  objective  of  their  labour ;  they  have,  in  fact, 
proselytised  with  special  zeal  amongst  those  who  had  already  become 
evangelical  Christians.  Indeed,  where  the  missionaries  could  reckon  on 
the  support  of  French  authority,  which  had  in  many  cases  acted  as  their 
forerunner,  this  proselytising  was  even  carried  on  by  brutal  force,  most 
outrageously  on  Tahiti,  the  Marquesas,  and  the  Loyalty  Islands,  especially 
Lifu.  This  competition  has  repeatedly  led  to  the  bitterest  strife,  even  to 
warfare,  as,  for  example,  in  the  island  of  Uea  (Wallis),  which  lies  between 
Tonga  and  Samoa,  and  of  which  the  French  Bishop  Bataillou,  who  has 
played  a  leading  part  in  Catholic  missions  to  the  South  Seas,  and  has 
shown  himself  ruthlessly  aggressive  against  evangelical  ones,  triumphantly 
reported  :  "  For  my  part,  I  regard  the  extirpation  of  the  insurgent  {i.e. 
Protestant)  party  (as  the  result  of  war  organised  by  himself)  as  a  second 
baptism  of  the  island."  l  I  will  not,  however,  enter  into  further  detail 
as  to  these  offensive  proceedings,  which  are  such  a  dark  page  in  the  history 
of  missions  to  the  South  Seas. 

Catholic  missionary  activity  in  Oceania  begins  with  the  landing  of 
some  priests  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Sacred  Heart  (Picpusians)  in 
1827  upon  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  in  their  subsequently  founding  in 
1833  the  Vicariate  of  Eastern  Oceania,  which  between  that  date  and 
1844  was  divided  into  three  Vicariates  :  Hawaii,  Marquesas,  and  Tahiti. 
As  early  as  1836  the  Vicariate  of  Western  Oceania  was  constituted,  and 
this  was,  between  1844  and  1898,  divided  into  Melanesia  (British  New 
Guinea,  New  Pommerania,  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land,  the  English  and 
German  Solomon  Islands)  and  Micronesia  (the  Caroline  and  Gilbert 
Islands).     There  arose,  thirdly,  in  1842  the  Vicariate  of  Central  Oceania, 

1  Annals,  1876,  iii.  53. 


OCEANIA  399 

which  was  further  organised,  between  1847  and  1901,  into  the  four 
Vicariates  of  Central  Oceania  :  New  Caledonia,  the  Navigator  Islands, 
Fiji,  and  the  Prefecture  of  the  New  Hebrides.  The  work  has  gradually 
been  taken  up  by  the  Marist  and  Picpusian  fathers,  the  fathers  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  of  Issoudun,  the  Capuchins,  the  Steyl  missionaries,  and  the 
Augustinian  collectors. 

I.  EASTERN  OCEANIA  (P.O.) 

1.  The  Vicariate  of  Hawaii  (1844),  with  24  patres,  33  fratres,  48 
sorores,  and  14,000  Catholic  natives,  who  are  probably  all  converted 
Protestants.  "  The  pride  of  the  mission  may  well  be  the  two  homes  for 
lepers  on  the  island  of  Molokai,  where  the  celebrated  Pater  Damian 
worked  with  such  heroism." 

2.  The  Vicariate  of  Marquesas  (1842),  "  where  the  first  vicar  rendered 
such  distinguished  services  to  the  French  troops,  which  took  possession 
of  the  island,  in  their  dealings  with  the  natives  that  he  was  decorated 
with  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  "  :  7  patres,  10  fratres,  10  sorores, 
3150  Catholics. 

3.  The  Vicariate  of  Tahiti,  including  the  Cook  Islands  (1848) :  12 
fratres,  24  sorores,  and  (including  whites)  7230  Catholics.1 

II.  WESTERN  OCEANIA 
A.  Melanesia 

4.  The  Vicariate  of  New  Guinea,  founded  in  1889,  embracing  the 
English  part  of  the  island  of  the  same  name,  the  Louisiade  Archipelago, 
and  the  Torres  Straits  (J.J.) — headquarters  on  Yule  Island  :  18  patres, 
22  fratres,  52  sorores,  4000  Catholics. 

5.  The  Vicariate  of  New  Pommerania  (1899)  embracing  the  Bismarck 
and  Marshall  Archipelagos :  33  patres,  33  fratres,  24  sorores  (J .J.), 
Catholics  about  11,000.2  These  are  probably  not  all  baptized,  at  any  rate 
there  are  many  children  of  even  heathen  parents  among  them.  In  order 
"  to  wrest  the  islanders  from  error,"  they  are  baptized  very  speedily.  In 
1904  10  members  of  the  missionary  staff  were  murdered  on  the  Gazelle 
Peninsula. 

6.  The  Prefecture  of  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land  round  Berlinhafen  and 
Potsdamhafen  (1896) :  9  patres,  10  fratres,  5  sorores  (S.V.D.),  and 
already  470  baptized  Christians,  among  them  many  children. 

7.  The  Prefecture  of  the  English  Solomon  Islands  (1897)  ;  and  8. 
The  Prefecture  of  the  German  Solomon  Islands  (1898),  together  with 
7  patres,  1  frater,  4  sorores  (M.),  and,  so  far,  no  baptized  Christians. 

1  "The  Mormons  and  Adventists  have  made  efforts  to  gain  a  firm  footing 
upon  several  of  the  islands;  they  have  not  had  much  success."  Cf.  Baum- 
garten,  p.  349.  No  word  at  all  of  the  fruitful  labour  of  the  London  and  especially 
the  Paris  evangelical  missionaries.  And  the  same  authority  writes  thus 
(p.  332)  of  evangelical  missionary  activity  in  general  in  Oceania  :  "The  history 
of  missions  (in  Oceania)  during  the  19th  century  rests  in  the  first  instance  in 
the  hands  of  the  English  and  American  Methodists  ( !  ?),  who  either  for  a  long 
time  refused  Catholic  missionaries  an  entrance  into  many  groups  of  islands,  or 
made  existence  as  difficult  as  possible  for  them.  The  success  of  the  Bible 
Society  (!  ?),  moreover,  does  not  correspond  in  the  least  with  the  immense  sums 
spent  upon  these  missions,  as  may  be  seen  from  that  very  instructive  book 
{sic!)  of  the  Anglican  (1)  Marshall."     What  wealth  of  inaccuracy  ! 

2  According  to  Gott  will  es,  1903,  p.  368.  Baumgarten  and  Missioncs 
Catholicce  for  1901  only  give  7000  and  6600. 


400  PROTESTANT    MISSIONS 

B.  Micronesia 

9.  The  mission  to  the  Caroline  and  Palau  Islands  (1886) :  13  patres, 
16  fratres  (Kp.),  and  1400  Catholics,  chiefly  converts  from  Protestantism. 

10.  The  Vicariate  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  including  the  Ellice  Islands 
(1897)  :  11  patres,  12  fratres,  9  sorores  (P.S.),  and,  according  to  the 
report,  11,000  Catholic  natives,  presumably  also  converted  Protestants 
for  the  most  part. 

On  the  now  German  Marianne  (Ladrone)  Islands,  where  Spanish 
Augustinians  have  carried  on  a  mission  since  1768,  and  which  ecclesi- 
astically belong  to  Manila,  there  are  said  to  be  10,800  Catholics,  a  figure 
which  is  marked  with  a  point  of  interrogation  even  in  Missiones  Catholicce. 

III.  CENTRAL  OCEANIA 

11.  The  Vicariate  of  Central  Oceania  (1842),  embracing  Tonga,  Uea 
or  Wallis  (extolled  as  "  the  Paraguay  of  the  South  Seas  "),  Futuna,  and 
Nina  (where  Chanel  was  murdered  in  1841),  with  19  patres,  2  fratres, 
59  (?)  sorores  (M.),  and  9450  Catholics. 

12.  The  Vicariate  of  New  Caledonia,  with  the  Loyalty  Islands  (1847), 
has  a  very  imposing  personnel  of  61  patres,  45  fratres,  and  146  sorores  (M.), 
which,  however,  also  does  pastoral  duty  within  the  large  criminal  colony. 
Of  the  natives,  11,500  are  said  to  be  Catholic  Christians,  and  the  majority 
are  to  be  found  on  the  oppressed  Loyalty  Islands.  "  There  is  scarcely 
any  region  in  the  South  Seas  to  be  compared  with  New  Caledonia,"  says 
Baumgarten  (p.  356) — praise  not  to  be  envied. 

13.  The  Prefecture  of  the  New  Hebrides  (1901),  occupied  by  16  priests. 
According  to  Missiones  Catholicce,  there  are  as  yet  no  baptized  converts, 
whereas  Baumgarten  sets  the  number  of  them  already  at  1300. 

14.  The  Vicariate  of  the  Navigator  Islands,  German  and  American 
Samoa,  and  the  Tokelau  Islands  (1851),  with  20  patres,  7  fratres,  12 
sorores  (M.),  and  about  7000  Catholics,  chiefly  converted  Protestants. 
Baumgarten  most  characteristically  writes  (p.  357)  :  "Since  the  monopoly 
exercised  by  the  American  missionaries  l  has  been  brought  to  an  end  by 
the  upright  German  Government,  there  has  been  no  further  hindrance  to 
the  full  development  of  all  the  powers  of  our  missionaries  and  sisters,  so 
that  we  may  confidently  expect  a  mighty  advance  in  the  Vicariate  during 
the  next  few  years." 

15.  The  Vicariate  of  Fiji  (1863),  manned  by  28  patres,  28  fratres,  and 
49  sorores  (M.),  who  are  said  to  have  some  10,000  natives  under  their 
care,  but  these  cannot  all  be  full-blooded  natives  of  Fiji,  because  88,500 
of  the  94,400  such  are  evangelical  Christians.  In  any  case,  the  work 
of  the  Catholic  missionaries  in  Fiji  consists  chiefly  in  proselytising, 
frequently  in  a  very  dishonourable  way,  among  the  natives  who  have 
long  since  been  Christianised  by  evangelical  missionaries. 

Finally,  Catholic  missions  are  also  being  carried  on  among  the  natives 
of  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  In  Australia,  by  Spanish  Benedictines 
at  the  model  farm  colony  of  New  Murcia,  to  the  north  of  Perth  (West 
Australia),  and  at  the  Trappist  station  of  Beagle  Bay.  A  very  numerous 
staff  of  Europeans  has  under  its  care  some  430  Papuans  at  the  two  places. 
And  in  New  Zealand  by  Marists  and  missionaries  of  Mill  Hill,  who  have 
gathered  in  5000  Maori  Christians  in  the  two  dioceses  of  Auckland  and 
Wellington. 

Throughout  Oceania  the  Catholic  converts  number  a  round  95,000,  a 
figure  which  must,  however,  be  diminished   by  the  considerable   per- 

1  There  are  no  Americans  there  at  all. 


OCEANIA  401 

centage  of  those  who  are  not  the  fruit  of  actual  missionary  work  among 
the  heathen,  but  of  proselytising  among  the  natives  already  Christianised 
by  evangelical  missions. 

294.  When,  in  conclusion,  we  bring  together  the  numerical 
results  of  all  evangelical  missions  in  all  the  four  parts  of  the 
world,  we  find  in — 

America  ....  8,422,500  Christians. 

Africa  ....  1,123,000          „ 

Asia  ....  1,849,000          „ 

Oceania  ....         293,000         „ 


Total     .  .  .     11,687,500  Christians. 

The  total  statistical  results  of  Eoman  Catholic  missions  to 
the  heathen  show  in — 

America  ......  633,000 

Africa  ......  531,000 

Asia  ......  3,374,500 

Oceania  ......  95,000 x 

Total  ....     4,633,500 

If  from  both  are  deducted  the  negroes  in  the  United  States, 
there  belong  to — 

Evangelical  Missions  .  .  4,462,500  Christians  won  from  heathenism. 
Roman  Catholic  Missions    .     4,473,500  „  ,,  ,, 

The  former,  accordingly,  inasmuch  as  their  period  of  labour 
has  been  very  much  shorter  than  that  of  Catholic  missions, 
show  a  far  greater  numerical  success  than  the  latter,  even 
without  the  compact  body  of  negro  Christians  in  North 
America. 

1  Without  deducting  the  Romanised  evangelical  Christians. 


26 


CHAPTER   VI 

A  CONTRIBUTION  TO  THE  HISTORY  OF 
MISSIONARY  METHODS1 

295.  In  the  beginning  of  Evangelical  missions  the  case  in 
respect  of  directions  as  to  methods  was  the  same  as  at  the 
beginning  of  Christian  missions  in  general :  either  they  were 
entirely  wanting,  or  they  were,  as  Zinzendorf  says  incidentally, 
general.  Theory  has  only  followed  upon  practice,  and  when 
it  has  gone  before  the  latter,  it  has  often  been  corrected  by 
experience.  Missionary  methods  have  also  their  history. 
Certainly  we  have  not  up  to  the  present  brought  them  into 
unity,  and  the  diversity  of  missionary  organisations  as  well  as 
of  the  objectives  of  missions  will  scarcely  allow  of  this  being 
attained.  But  with  regard  to  the  leading  principles,  an  essential 
agreement  has  been  increasingly  attained  as  time  has  passed, 
although  in  practical  action  there  are  sufficient  variations,  con- 
ditioned by  the  different  constitution,  partly  of  the  subjects 
and  partly  of  the  objects  of  missionary  endeavours.  The  eye 
has  been  gradually  gaining  a  keener  perception  of  the  great 
problems  which  have  in  the  progress  of  the  work  been  coming 
more  and  more  into  view,  and  if  these  problems  are  all  by 
no  means  solved,  they  are  at  least  set  forth. 

According  to  the  conception  of  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
older  missionary  generation,  the  task  of  missions  was  consi- 
dered to  be — 1.  to  make  believers  of  the  individual  heathen, 
that  they  might  be  saved  through  faith ;  and  2.  to  gather 
those  heathen  who  had  become  believers  into  ecclesiolce,  which 
were  formed  entirely  after  the  pietist  or  methodist  fashion. 
But  from  this  individualistic  direction  of  missions,  by  means 
of  which  it  was  expected  to  form  "  elect  congregations,"  there 
was  a  gradual  departure  when  it  was  no  longer  possible  to 
refuse  to  recognise  that  the  congregations  which   had   been 

1  Warneck,  Ev.  Missionslehrc,  3  Abt.  ;  Grundemann,  Mission  studien  und 
Kiritiken,  I.  and  II.  Giitersloh,  1S91  and  1898.  Proceedings  of  the  General 
Missionary  Conference  at  Liverpool  (1860),  London  (1888),  New  York  (1900), 
Allahabad  (1873),  Shanghai  (1878  and  1890),  Calcutta  (1883),  Osaka  (1883), 
Tokio  (1900),  Bombay  (1893),  Madras  (1903),  Bremen  (18(i6  to  1891);  and 
articles  in  various  missionary  periodicals. 

402 


HISTORY  OF   MISSIONARY   METHODS  403 

gathered,  even  if  they  were  ecclcsiolce  in  their  beginning,  did 
not  consist  exclusively  of  the  really  converted,  but  represented 
fragments  of  a  church  of  the  people,  whose  religious  and  moral 
life  not  only  did  not  rise  above  that  of  the  average  Christians 
at  home,  but  often  fell  below  it.  And  in  learning  to  grasp 
this  fact,  men  grew  to  understand  how  matured  Christians 
could  only  be  the  result  of  more  lengthened  Christian  training, 
and  that  a  training  which  is  not  limited  only  to  particular 
individuals,  but  is  directed  towards  a  moral,  intellectual,  and 
social  elevation  of  the  national  life,  towards  a  penetration 
of  the  natural  relations  of  the  people  with  the  leavening 
influences  of  the  Gospel.  Thus,  over  against  the  merely  in- 
dividualistic conception  of  the  task  of  missions,  the  more 
enlarged  conception  made  way  for  itself,  that  in  connection 
with  the  work  directed  towards  the  salvation  of  individuals 
there  must  be  a  missionary  training  of  the  people  which  has 
in  view  the  gathering  of  a  native  national  Christendom,  that 
is  to  say,  a  Christianisation  of  the  people. 

296.  In  closest  connection  with  this  enlarged  conception 
of  the  task  of  missions  stands  the  ever  clearer  recognition  of 
the  aim  of  missions,  namely,  the  founding  of  such  independent 
native  churches  as  shall  support  themselves  out  of  their  own 
resources,  edify  and  govern  themselves  by  their  own  powers, 
and  carry  forward  mission  work  of  their  own  accord.  This 
aim  sets  before  us  one  of  the  most  difficult  missionary  problems, 
and  to  the  present  day  we  are  still  experimenting  at  its 
solution ;  but  that  it  is  now  generally  recognised,  while  in  the 
beginning  of  missions  it  was  not  once  dreamed  of,  is  itself 
great  progress.  All  the  larger  missionary  undertakings  work 
now  at  the  training  of  native  Christian  churches  to  independ- 
ence ;  only  some  do  it  hastily,  and  others  more  intelligently. 
The  most  energetic  workers  for  the  promotion  of  this  inde- 
pendence have  been  the  Free  Church  missionary  organisations, 
above  all  the  Independents,  who  indeed  in  their  doctrinaire 
zeal  have  repeatedly  ignored  the  conditions  of  ripening,  to 
which  it  must  remain  bound.  Until  to-day,  apart  from  the 
negro  churches  of  the  United  States,  there  is  no  really  inde- 
pendent native  Christian  church,  that  is,  one  wholly  free  from 
missionary  supervision.  Where  the  experiment  has  been  made, 
e.g.,  in  Hawaii,  Madagascar,  British  Guiana,  there  the  doctrin- 
airism  of  the  Independents,  which  is  lacking  in  pedagogic 
wisdom,  has  erected  a  sham  building,  destitute  of  solid  founda- 
tions ;  everywhere  inward  and  outward  retrogression  has  been 
the  consequence.  For  complete  independence  from  the  mother 
churches  and  societies  almost  all  young  native  churches  are  still 
lacking  in  ripeness. 


404  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

297.  Out  of  the  enlarged  missionary  task  connected  with 
the  training  to  ecclesiastical  independence,  there  emerges  a 
series  of  important  consequences  in  respect  of  missionary- 
methods  : — 

1.  A  healthy  cultivation  of  the  national  characteristics. 
Only  when  Christianity  has  been  so  planted  m  the  foreign 
soil  of  heathen  nations  that  it  becomes  naturalised  there  as  a 
domestic  growth,  can  a  really  independent  native  I  Christian 
Church  be  brought  into  being.  This  naturalisation  requires 
a  shaping  of  the  whole  process  of  Christianisation  to  the  people, 
a  Christianisation  of  the  language  of  the  people,  of  the  customs 
of  the  people,  of  the  social  ties  of  the  people,  a  task  which  sets 
before  missions  a  number  of  most  complicated  problems.  Two 
leading  dangers  are  specially  to  be  avoided :  the  treatment  of 
strange  customs  in  a  spirit  of  religious  rigour,  and  a  confound- 
ing of  Christianisation  with  Europeanisation  or  Americanisa- 
tion.  Pietistic  narrowness  brought  with  it  the  first  of  these 
dangers ;  the  second  lies  in  the  cultural  superiority  and  national 
egoism  of  the  conductors  of  missions;  and  both  are  favoured 
by  lack  of  pedagogic  skill  in  dealing  with  those  who  are  the 
objects  of  missions.  The  capacity  and  the  will  to  accommodate 
oneself  to  foreign  peculiarities  is  especially  a  German  charisma, 
while  the  English  and  American  nature  accommodates  itself 
with  difficulty.  Even  in  respect  of  the  cultivation  of  native 
languages,  this  difference  asserts  itself. 

2.  The  preparation  of  a  native  order  of  teachers.  No 
doubt  much  has  been  done  in  this  direction  already  in  earlier 
days,  particularly  by  missions  of  the  Free  Churches ;  but  the 
manner  in  which  it  is  being  done  to-day,  with  consciousness  of 
the  aim  in  view — although  often  somewhat  mechanically,  and 
without  pedagogic  wisdom,  inasmuch  as  the  requirements  in 
the  education  of  native  helpers  are  partly  too  small  and  partly 
excessive — is  certainly  the  result  of  the  more  recent  develop- 
ment of  the  history  of  missions.  At  the  beginning  of  the  20th 
century  there  were  already  4170  ordained  native  pastors  and 
74,000  native  teachers  and  evangelists  in  the  service  of  all 
Evangelical  missions  together,  and  they  supported  for  the 
training  of  pastors  and  teachers  370  educational  institutions, 
with  12,000  students.  In  connection  with  this  increase  of 
native  workers,  there  has  been  not  only  an  expansion  of  the 
field  of  work  and  an  organising  of  the  system  of  stations,  but 
also  a  growing  financial  achievement  on  the  part  of  con- 
gregations and  an  ever-increasing  development  of  church 
organisation  ;  so  that  the  increase  of  native  workers  conduces 
in  various  ways  to  advance  the  training  for  ecclesiastical 
independence. 


HISTORY  OF   MISSIONARY   METHODS  405 

3.  A  greater  wealth  of  missionary  instruments.  Naturally 
the  oral  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  has  remained,  as  it  was 
from  the  beginning,  the  chief  instrument  of  missions ;  but 
alongside  of  it  educational  and  literary  activity  in  the  first 
instance,  then  medical  work  and  women's  work,  have  taken  an 
ever  larger  room  and  a  more  independent  position.  School 
and  literary  work,  indeed,  were  not  wanting  at  the  start ;  but 
a  systematically  ordered  system  of  schools,  which  sought  to 
provide  not  merely  a  religious  but  also  a  general  education  for 
all  classes  of  the  people,  beginning  at  the  common  school  and 
rising  to  colleges  and  even  in  some  cases  to  universities,  and  a 
literary  activity  carried  on  in  connection  with  this  intellectual 
uplifting  of  the  whole  people — these  have  only  been  interwoven 
into  the  missionary  enterprise  as  an  integral  part  of  the  same 
since  the  middle  of  last  century.  Here  statistics  speak  most 
eloquently.  Alongside  of  about  19,500  common  schools,  with 
a  round  million  of  scholars,  and  of  these — which  is  important — 
almost  300,000  girls,  there  are  (in  1900)  about  900  intermediary 
schools  and  100  colleges,  with  90,000  pupils  in  both  together. 
In  literary  work  Bible  translations  take  the  first  place.  There 
are  to-day  96  translations  of  the  whole  Bible,  accomplished  by 
missionaries,  100  of  the  New  Testament,  and  224  of  particular 
portions,  without  reckoning  those  in  now  disused  languages. 
The  other  missionary  literature,  which  deals,  in  addition  to 
religion,  with  almost  all  departments  of  human  knowledge,  in 
issues  varying  from  little  flyleaves  to  scientific  works,  is  so 
extensive  that  it  can  no  longer  be  registered.  On  mission 
fields  themselves,  particularly  in  India  and  in  China,  there 
have  been  established  special  book  and  tract  societies,  which 
are  doing  a  very  fruitful  work.  It  has  been  already  mentioned 
that  over  500  qualified  doctors  and  220  certificated  women 
doctors  are  rendering  a  very  important  pioneer  service  in 
missions.  This  service  is  aided  by  a  plentiful  number  of 
benevolent  institutions :  380  hospitals,  780  dispensaries,  100 
leper  asylums,  250  orphanages,  30  blind  and  deaf  and  dumb 
institutions,  and  160  other  refuges,  with  tens  of  thousands  of 
inmates.  All  that  is  the  Word  made  visible,  which  renders  an 
incisive  service  in  aid  of  missions.  If  we  add,  finally,  that 
besides  the  indirect  cultural  training  which  missions  every- 
where exercise,  there  are  not  only  110  industrial  schools,  but 
industrial  and  agricultural  undertakings  have  been  organically 
associated  with  missionary  enterprise  by  quite  a  number  of 
societies,  e.g.,  the  Basel  and  the  Scottish  United  Free  Church, 
it  becomes  manifest  in  what  a  comprehensive  measure  the 
work  of  Christian  evangelisation  is  influencing  the  whole  life 
of  the  people.     The  longer  Christian  missions  are  at  work;  the 


406  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

more  do  they  become  a  many-sided  and  potent  factor  in  the 
education  of  non-Christian  peoples,  as  the  American,  Dr. 
Dennis,  has  shown  in  his  classic  book,  Christian  Missions  and 
Social  Progress  (New  York,  1897  ff.),  by  an  immense  array  of 
facts.  And  so  there  is  at  work  a  wealthy  missionary  apparatus, 
which  by  an  inward  necessity  connects  the  individualistic 
missionary  effort  with  that  for  the  Christianisation  of  the 
people. 

298.  Over  against  the  conception  of  the  task  of  missions 
which  we  have  now  briefly  characterised,  with  its  consequences 
in  respect  of  methods,  a  movement  has  asserted  itself  within  the 
last  few  decades,  which,  originating  with  Hudson  Taylor,  the 
founder  of  the  China  Island  Mission,  has  found  eloquent  and 
energetic  representatives,  especially  in  America,  in  Dr.  A.  T. 
Pierson,  the  editor  of  the  Mission  Review  of  the  World ;  in  Mr. 
Simpson,  the  leader  of  the  so-called  Alliance  Mission;  and 
partly  also  in  Mr.  Mott,  the  secretary  of  the  Students'  Mis- 
sionary Union.  It  describes  the  task  of  missions  as  "  the 
evangelisation  of  the  world ; "  and  the  wing  of  this  movement 
represented  in  the  Students'  Missionary  Movement  does  so 
with  the  addition  which  it  has  adopted  as  its  rhetorical  motto, 
"  in  this  generation."  In  view  of  the  ambiguous  definitions 
which  have  been  and  are  still  being  given  of  the  watchword 
"  evangelisation,"  it  is  difficult  to  say  exactly  what  is  to  be 
understood  by  it.  Mott,  in  his  book,  The  Evangelisation  of  the 
World  in  this  Generation  (London,  1900),  written  with  burning 
enthusiasm,  explains  that  it  means  "that  a  sufficient  oppor- 
tunity shall  be  offered  to  all  men  to  become  acquainted  with 
Jesus  Christ  as  their  Eedeemer,  and  to  become  His  disciples," 
but  not  "  Christianisation  in  the  sense  of  the  interpenetration 
of  the  world  with  Christian  ideas,"  although  educational, 
literary,  and  medical  work  are  not  excluded,  and  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  Gospel  is  not  to  be  of  a  superficial  character. 
Dr.  Pierson  understands  by  the  word  only  "  preaching  and 
testimony.  These  two  words  embrace  all  that  is  meant  by 
evangelisation."  What  the  definitions  lack  in  clearness  is 
supplied  by  the  principles  laid  down  as  to  methods  of  practical 
action.  They  are  the  following : — 1.  The  sending  out  of  a  great 
army  of  evangelists,  in  order  to  give  all  men  the  opportunity 
of  hearing  the  Gospel  within  the  shortest  time.  2.  The 
greatest  acceleration  both  of  the  sending  out  and  of  the 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel ;  hence  itinerant  preaching  the 
most  essential  missionary  task.  Schools,  literary  work,  the 
founding  of  congregations,  and  even  church  organisation,  are 
either  left  out  or  are  regarded  as  of  subordinate  importance. 
3.  World-wide  extent  of  the  preaching ;  hence  a  scattering  of 


HISTORY   OF   MISSIONARY   METHODS  407 

energies,  according  to  the  saying,  "  Diffusion,  not  concen- 
tration." These  principles  are  based  upon  the  word  of  Christ, 
Matthew  xxiv.  14,  which  requires  only  a  preaching  in  all  the 
world;  upon  the  examples  of  the  apostles,  who,  as  itinerant 
preachers,  passed  quickly  from  place  to  place ;  and  upon  the 
connection  of  missions  with  the  second  coming,  which  must  be 
hastened  by  the  speedier  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  among  all 
nations. 

This  basis,  however,  is  one-sided  and  exegetically  untenable : 
it  ignores  the  difference  between  the  circumstances  of  the 
apostolic  time  and  in  the  present,  and  rests  upon  arid  calcula- 
tions, as  well  as  impatience.  And  the  fundamental  methods 
proposed  are  in  contradiction  to  the  experiences  of  a  century 
of  missions  :  they  lack  any  guarantee  for  the  conservation 
of  results,  and  they  leave  completely  untouched  the  great 
difficulties  to  be  overcome  by  a  sound  missionary  enterprise,  if 
even  an  intelligible  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  is  to  be  accom- 
plished, to  say  nothing  of  the  solid  founding  of  a  Christian 
Church.  This  last  is  the  task  of  missions ;  the  limitation  of 
this  task  to  mere  evangelisation  confounds  means  and  goal. 
Mere  preaching  does  not  suffice ;  it  is  to  be  the  means  of  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  Church.  Without  this  building  and 
upbuilding,  missions  do  only  half  a  work,  and  not  even  that. 
If,  however,  the  task  in  question  be  to  build  among  the  niany- 
tongued  heathen,  who  are  so  poorly  prepared  for  the  under- 
standing of  the  Gospel  message,  the  Church  against  which  the 
gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail,  then  the  mere  announcement  of 
the  Gospel  is  not  sufficient  for  this.  Settled  station  work, 
patient  continuance  in  thorough  instruction,  faithful  pastoral 
care,  earnest  church  discipline,  wise  organisation  are  indispens- 
able ;  and  this  solid  work  cannot  be  done  over  the  whole  earth 
in  a  hurry,  least  of  all  in  the  course  of  one  generation.  The 
missionary  movement,  which  has  become  a  mighty  one  under 
the  watchword,  "The  evangelisation  of  the  world  in  this 
generation,"  and  which  is  supported  by  genuinely  pious  men, 
has  given  many  a  powerful  incitement,  and  in  its  details 
contains  much  that  is  worthy  of  being  laid  to  heart  by  all 
missionary  workers,  but  as  a  movement  for  the  reform  of 
missionary  methods  it  will  have  no  permanent  significance. 
Unless  everything  deceives  us,  a  certain  cooling  of  the  move- 
ment has  already  begun.  After  many  educational  fees  have 
been  paid  that  might  have  been  saved,  this  movement  also 
will  attach  itself  to  the  fundamental  missionary  methods 
which  rest  upon  the  experience  of  a  century  of  missions, 


408  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

Roman  Catholic  Missions.    Appendix  to  Chapter  VI 

Although  the  Catholic  missionary  enterprise  is  much  older  than  the 
Evangelical,  it  has  so  far  produced  no  scientific  missionary  system  ;  even 
works  from  the  pen  of  individuals  dealing  with  the  theory  of  missions, 
such  as  abound  in  the  protocols  of  Fvangelical  missionary  conferences  and 
missionary  periodicals,  are  as  good  as  non-existent  in  Catholic  missionary 
literature.  Hence  we  can  study  their  methods  only  as  we  see  them  in 
practice,1  which  practice  is  guided,  apart  from  instructions  which  are  for 
the  most  part  beyond  our  reach,  chiefly  by  tradition,  and  a  tradition 
the  ideal  of  which  is  not  the  apostolic  missionary  enterprise  but  the 
mediaeval,  modified  moreover  in  many  respects  according  to  modern  cir- 
cumstances. As  in  the  case  of  the  Catholic  idea  of  missions,  so  also  does 
the  Catholic  method  of  carrying  on  missions  stand  in  close  relation  with 
the  Catholic  idea  of  the  Church.  Of  course  Catholic  missions,  like  the 
Evangelical,  have  as  their  object  the  conversion  of  non- Christians  to  the 
Christian  faith,  and  of  giving  them  thereby  salvation  ;  but  the  way  of 
salvation  passes  for  the  Catholic  not  by  way  of  the  individual  to  the 
Church,  but  by  way  of  the  Church  to  the  individual.  Hence  the 
Catholic  does  not  conceive  the  fundamental  duty  of  the  missionary  to  lie 
in  leading  single  individuals  along  the  biblical  road  to  salvation,  but  in 
bringing  them  within  the  institution  of  the  Church.  Everything  else 
follows  as  a  natural  result  from  this.  If  the  Romish  institution  of  the 
Church  is  identical  with  the  divine  institution  for  salvation,  then  admis- 
sion to  the  Church  is  identical  with  participation  in  salvation  and  con- 
sequently admission  to  the  Church,  and  that  as  quickly  and  in  as  large 
numbers  as  possible  is  the  correct  method  of  converting  the  heathen. 

The  Catholic  mission  therefore  begins  by  establishing  the  Romish 
ecclesiastical  institution,  i.e.  the  hierarchy.  The  Church  is  there  in  the 
hierarchy,  "God's  mighty  vicars  and  representatives,"  and  the  Church 
demands  obedience.  "  The  laws  of  the  Church  are  God's  laws  ;  heaven 
or  hell  is  attached  to  the  observance  or  the  violation  of  the  same."  And 
"when  the  missionaries  explain  the  institution  of  the  Church  to  their 
catechumens,  they  always  put  first  the  doctrine  of  the  Pope  and  the  pre- 
rogatives vested  in  him  by  God.  The  new  converts  ask  towards  which 
part  of  the  horizon  yonder  Rome  lies,  where  Jesus  Christ  set  up  the 
eternal  throne  of  His  representative.  When  they  know  the  direction 
they  turn  their  hands  and  their  eyes  toward  it  as  though  they  were 
looking  at  the  road  to  heaven.  .  .  .  The  priest  is  in  their  eyes  what  he 
really  is  to  the  eye  of  faith  :  the  representative  of  God,  a  second  Saviour. 
Their  trust  in  him  is  boundless,  and  his  every  word  an  oracle.  They 
believe  he  is  the  lord  of  the  God  of  nature."  2  Romish  missionaries  also 
preach  the  Gospel  as  the  Church  understands  it;  but  the  testimony  that 
there  is  a  Saviour  who  saves  men  is  driven  almost  into  the  background 
by  that  of  a  Church  which  alone  saves  men. 

The  Church  then  opens  wide  her  doors,  to  admit  as  soon  as  possible 
great  crowds.  In  this  endeavour  she  is  supported  by  her  magic  idea  of 
the  Sacraments,  which  permits  her  to  frequently  and  quickly  administer 
baptism.  The  greatest  speed,  the  most  mechanical  method,  and  the 
largest  numbers  of  converts  were  in  the  earlier  Mexican  mission,  e.g.,  "  the 
mission  to  Mexico  reached  fruition  so  speedily  that  within  fifteen  years 
7  million  natives  received  baptism,"  but  also  on  the  Congo,  and  even  in 
India,  Japan,  and  China,  there  were  crowds  of  baptisms  within  a  short 

1  Cf.  Warneck,  Protestant  ische  Belcuchtung,  chap,  x.,  "  Blicke  in  die  riiniische 
Missionspraxis." 

2  Annals,  1874,  vi.  52, 


HISTORY  OF   MISSIONARY   METHODS  409 

time.  Nowadays  things  do  not  certainly  proceed  so  swiftly,  but  often 
enough  there  is  still  surprising  speed,  and  especially  where  it  is  a  case  of 
"  sheltering  the  natives  within  the  safe  fold  of  the  Church  in  order  to 
wrest  them  from  the  influence  of  error."  And  even  to-day,  tens,  indeed 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  children  of  heathen  parents  are  baptized  in 
articulo  mortis  (and  not  always  only  in  this  condition),  and  are  even 
often  baptized  "secretly  and  by  craft."  In  Romish  missions  generally 
there  is  a  strong  tendency  to  win  over  children,  who  until  recently  were 
bought  in  slave  states,  "full  control"  over  them  being  thus  acquired. 
As  a  rule,  though  there  are  abundant  exceptions,  adults  receive  more  or 
less  instruction  before  baptism,  concerning  of  course  the  facts  of  the 
story  of  redemption,  though  what  is  specially  Romish  seems  to  pre- 
ponderate over  what  is  common  to  all  Christendom ;  in  particular,  the 
Catholic  ideal  of  piety  is  made  to  consist  in  the  practice  of  church 
ceremonial,  which  only  too  easily  degenerates  into  mere  drill,  into  its 
constituent  principle. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  Mariolatry  and  the  Worship  of  the  Saints 
play  an  important  part  in  Romish  missions,  and  are  concentrated  round 
pictures  and  statues.  Naturally,  in  spite  of  the  fine  distinction  drawn  in 
dogma  between  worship  and  veneration,  there  is  the  greatest  danger  in 
these  practices  for  heathen,  who  have  grown  up  in  polytheistic  surround- 
ings, that  they  will  only  see  foreign  idols  in  Catholic  pictures  and 
statues.  Nevertheless  this  method  of  substitution  is  systematically 
carried  on,  recommended  as  pedagogically  wise,  and  it  is  regarded  as  a 
great  missionary  success  when  Catholic  ceremonial  vessels  take  the  place 
of  heathen  idols.  Not  only  in  their  earlier  missions  to  Indians  have  the 
Jesuits,  in  their  own  words,  taught  "  the  Indians  to  exchange  the  objects 
of  their  veneration  and  to  address  the  invocations  and  prayers  to  the  true 
God  (especially  to  Mary  and  the  Saints),  which  they  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  uttering  as  they  offered  their  sacrifices,"  and  not  only  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Congo  Mission  "were  crucifixes  and  pictures  of  the 
saints  distributed  that  something  might  be  set  up  in  place  of  the  tokens 
of  idolatry,"  but  even  to-day  "  the  object  of  veneration  is  still  exchanged  " ; 
and  this  is  not  confined  to  pictures  and  statues  of  Mary  and  the  Saints, 
medals  and  other  consecrated  objects  are  exchanged  for  heathen  amulets, 
i.e.  fetishes  are  exchanged. 

Allied  to  the  method  of  substitution  is  that  of  compromise  with 
heathen  manners  and  customs,  as  for  example  in  India  with  caste  and 
in  China  with  ancestral  worship.  In  both  cases  it  certainly  has  been  con- 
demned by  the  Popes  as  actually  menacing  Christianity  with  heathenism, 
but  the  Jesuits,  who  have  practised  it,  defend  it  down  to  the  present  time. 
Of  the  specific  missionary  methods  of  work,  preaching  to  the  heathen  is 
not  much  employed,  school  teaching  is  engaged  in,  but  not  to  the  same 
extent  as  in  Evangelical  missions,  and  literary  missionary  work  falls  far 
behind  that  done  by  Evangelicals ;  the  translation  of  the  Bible  is  almost 
only  carried  on  where,  as  for  instance  in  Syria  and  Uganda,  the  influence 
of  the  Bible  as  translated  by  Protestants  makes  it  a  matter  of  prudent 
policy.1     On  the  other  hand,  works  of  mercy  are  performed  in  abundance, 

1  Marshall,  who  asserts  (i.  22 ff.)  that  "the  Bible  has  had  no  share  in  the 
conquest  of  Christianity  neither  in  ancient  nor  in  modern  times  " ;  that  Pro- 
testant translations  of  the  Bible  are  the  work  of  "madmen  "  ;  that  "the  Church 
has  placed  no  books  in  the  hands  of  the  heathen,  especially  neophytes,  and  has 
as  little  as  did  her  first  apostles  endeavoured  to  convert  the  heathen  world  by 
the  distribution  of  Bibles."  This  same  Marshall  oracularly  says  (i.  91  ff.)j:  "  The 
sects  have  even  in  those  translations  which  they  have  vaingloriously  circulated  as 
their  own  work,  accomplished  slowly  and  fruitlessly  only  that  which  the  Church 


410  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

especially  by  sisters,  and  industrial  work  is  being  skilfully  carried  on  by 
the  bandy  fratres  in  many  mission  fields,  especially  in  Africa,  a  service 
which  has  won  the  favour  of  many  colonial  politicians  for  Catholic 
missions. 

A  dark  shadow  is  cast  upon  Catholic  missions  by  their  association 
with  politics,  i.e.  with  secular  powers,  Christian  as  well  as  non- Christian, 
in  order  to  obtain  help  from  them  directly  or  indirectly  in  gathering  in 
as  great  crowds  as  possible  into  the  fold  of  the  Church,  and  in  this  way 
to  accomplish  the  Christianisation  of  the  nations  not  from  beneath  but 
from  above.  Apart  from  the  mediaeval  and  post-mediaeval  model  of  the 
Catholic  missionary  enterprise  in  America  and  on  the  Congo,  the  famous 
Xavier  is  the  classical  authority  for  this  political  kind  of  popular  Chris- 
tianisation. It  is  not  true,  as  Janssen  apodictically  asserts,  that  this 
great  missionary  "  missionised  with  cross  and  breviary  alone."  In  India 
he  called  in  the  assistance  of  the  secular  power  of  Portugal  in  the  most 
direct  manner,  not  merely  to  attract  the  heathen  and  also  converts  by  the 
prospect  of  earthly  advantage,  or,  as  he  himself  says,  "by  enchaining 
them  with  bounties " ;  but  also  to  use  force  in  the  suppression  of 
heathenism  and  in  introducing  Christianity.  And  in  Japan  he  made  it 
his  express  object  above  all  to  win  the  princes  in  order  to  oblige  the 
common  people  to  follow  them.  According  to  his  authenticated  letters, 
Xavier  was  of  the  opinion  that  "the  power  of  royalty  was  (in  India) 
more  essential  to  the  spread  of  the  faith  than  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel."  "  Believe  me,"  he  writes  to  Rodriguez,  "  I  am  sure  that  if  the 
favour  of  the  king  and  his  viceroy  do  not  come  to  the  help  of  the  faith, 
all  our  endeavour  is  in  vain.  I  have  had  more  than  enough  experience 
of  this.  I  know  why  it  is  so ;  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  tell  you." 
And  on  the  strength  of  this  conviction  he  desires  the  strictest  injunctions 
from  the  king  to  his  viceroys  that  the  faith  be  propagated  in  India,  and 
that  "he  threaten  them  on  his  oath,"  and  hold  the  sternest  punishments 
over  them,  if  they  manifest  tardiness  in  this  work.1  Indeed,  in  his 
distress  over  the  unsatisfactory  result  of  the  actual  missions  in  India,  he 
goes  so  far  as  to  urge  the  king  of  Portugal  in  a  long  letter  that  he 
positively  commission  the  secular  authorities  with  the  conversion  of 
India.  "As  long  as  the  viceroys  and  governors  are  not  forced  by  the 
fear  of  disfavour  to  make  many  Christians,  your  Majesty  cannot  expect 
that  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  in  India  will  have  appreciable  influence." 
And,  modified  by  circumstances,  these  principles  of  Xavier,  resting  as  they 
do  upon  the  Romish  conception  of  the  fealty  of  the  secular  powers  to  the 
Church,  have  remained  the  pride  of  the  Catholic  missionary  enterprise 
all  through  its  lengthy  history. 

The  great  problems  concerning  the  aim  of  missions  have  not  existed 
to  at  all  the  same  degree  for  Catholic  missions  as  for  Evangelical  ones. 
They  also  have,  it  is  true,  educated  a  native  staff  of  teachers,  and  in  the 
older  fields  their  secular  clergy  are  fairly  numerous ;  but  education  to 
financial  self-support  is  not  energetically  carried  on  ;  on  the  other  hand, 
on  the  Philippines,  for  instance,  and  probably  also  in  other  provinces  of 

had  already  done  in  all  countries  with  such  wonderful  success,  that  her  enemies 
oagerly  appropriated  all  the  treasures  which  she  had  lavishly  distributed, 
although  these  could  be  but  the  garbled  image  of  the  gifts,  which  lost  all  value 
in  their  coarse  hands.  .  .  .  The  Catholic  Church  has  published  exact  trans- 
lations of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  language  of  every  people  which  she  lias 
gathered  within  her  fold."  And  this  rhetorician  is  even  to-day  extolled  as  the 
"classical"  authority  upon  missions,  as  a  crown  witness  against  Evan 
missions  and  on  behalf  of  Catholic  ones  ! 

1  De  Vos,  Life  and  Letters  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  i.  p.  341  ff. 


HISTORY   OF    MISSIONARY   METHODS  41I 

the  Church  acquired  by  missions,  a  considerable  amount  of  wealth  has 
been  collected  by  the  Orders  of  the  Churches.  The  whole  question  of 
constitution  and  independence  does  not  appear  at  all,  because  of  course 
the  Christianised  mission  fields  with  a  bishop  or  even  an  archbishop  over 
them  become  part  of  the  Romish  hierarchy.  No  native  has  yet  been 
invested  with  the  dignity  of  a  bishop  in  the  mission  fields  recentl)- 
entered. 


CHAPTER   VII 

ESTIMATE  OF  THE  RESULTS  OF  EVANGELICAL 

MISSIONS 

299.  When  Paul  returned  to  Antioch  from  his  first 
missionary  journey,  he  gathered  the  congregation  there  and 
"  rehearsed  all  that  God  had  done  with  them,  and  how  He  had 
opened  the  door  of  faith  unto  the  Gentiles"  (Acts  xiv.  27). 
In  this  oldest  missionary  report  the  chief  stress  is  manifestly 
laid  on  this,  that  it  was  God  who  gave  the  missionaries 
entrance  and  success ;  and  it  is  profitable  also,  in  view  of  the 
facts  of  present-day  missionary  history,  to  have  regard  to  the 
Divine  leadings  and  influences  which  are  opening  the  doors, 
alike  to  the  lands  and  to  the  hearts  of  the  heathen.  But 
at  the  same  time  the  apostle  in  giving  his  report  throws 
into  prominence  oca  iroirieiv  6  Qibc  n,ir  ahruv.  If  we  translate 
oca  by  "  what,"  "  all  that,"  then  we  have  simply  the  results  of 
this  first  missionary  journey  recorded/without  the  addition  of 
any  verdict  as  to  whether  these  results  are  to  be  reckoned  as 
considerable  or  as  not  so.  We  may,  however,  also  render  the 
word  by  "how  much,"  "how  great  tilings,"  and  then  the 
results  are  characterised  as  an  important  missionary  success. 

In  the  foregoing  survey  of  the  evangelical  mission  field  of 
to-day,  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  set  forth  in  outline 
soberly  and  objectively  what  has  been  accomplished  up  to  this 
time.  Looking  now  at  the  state  of  the  facts,  can  we  say  that 
what  has  been  done  is  much  ? 

300.  In  face  of  a  non-Christian  humanity  numbering  still 
about  1000  millions,1  the  numerical  result  of  about  11£  million 

1  According  to  what  are  indeed  only  relatively  the  most  accurate  statements 
(Zeller  in  the  Attgem.  Mis.  Zcitung,  1903,  3  ft'.),  the  1544£  millions  of  mankind 
who  inhabited  the  earth  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  divided 
according  to  their  religion  as  follows  : — 


Christians  . 

■             .             • 

534,940,000 

Roman  Catholics 

.      254,500,000 

Greek  Church 

.      106,480,000 

Protestants 

.      165,830,000 

Others 

8,130,000 

Israelites    . 

10,860,000 

Mohammedans 

175,290,000 

Cany  forward 

721,090,000 

412 

ESTIMATE  OF   RESULTS  OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS   413 


heathen-Christians 1  is  not  much,  especially  when  one  considers 
that  at  present  the  non-Christian  humanity  is  being  increased 
yearly  through  births  by  H  millions  more  than  this  total, 
if  the  accepted  rate  of  increase  of  12  per  1000  per  annum 
is  accurate.  The  number  of  heathen-Christians,  it  is  true, 
increases  much  more  rapidly  in  proportion  through  baptisms 
of  adults  and  children  than  the  number  of  heathen  through 
births,  and  it  is  therefore  a  knotty  problem  in  mathematics  to 
calculate  how  many  hundred  years  are  required  for  missions 
to  reach  even  a  yearly  increase  equal  to  the  yearly  overplus  of 
births.  For  missions  at  the  outset  indeed  resemble,  as  has  been 
sarcastically  said,  "a  tortoise  running  a  race  with  a  railway- 
train  " ;  but  it  is  not  true  that  "  this  tortoise  lags  farther 
behind,  the  longer  the  race  continues."  The  statistical  results 
of  missions  increase  in  ascending,  though  not  regularly  ascend- 
ing, progression,  just  like  a  capital  sum  to  which  compound 
interest  is  added.     Not  to  speak  of  the  sporadic  missionary 


Brought  forward 

721,090,000 

Brahmans 

214,570,000 

Buddhists  . 

120,750,000 

Confucians 

300,630,000 

Shintoists  . 

14,000,000 

Polytheists  (Animists) 

173,300,000 

Others 

170,000 

Total 

1,544,510,000 

According  to  "  Stimmen  aus   Maria   Laach  "  (Kail 

1.  Blatter),  1903, 

Krose,  S.J.,  Die    Verbreitung 

der   wichtigsten  Religio 

nsbekenntnisse  zu 

der  Jahrhundertioende : 

Christians  . 

549,017,431 

Roman  Catholics 

264,506,922 

Greek  Orthodox 

.      109, 

147.27S 

Raskolniks 

2, 

173,377 

Oriental  Schism 

6, 

554,963 

Protestants 

166, 

627.20S 

Jews 

11,036,607 

Mohammedans 

202,048,240 

Brahmans 

210,100,000 

Old  Indian  Cult     . 

12,113,756 

Buddhists 

120,250,000 

Confucians 

235,000,000 

Taoist 

32,000,000 

Shintoists 

17,000,000 

Fetish  worshippers,  etc. 

144,700,000 

Others 

2,844,482 

T 

otal 

1,536,110,516 

These  reckonings  are  independent  of  one  another,  and  have  been  prepared 
with  equal  care.  In  any  case,  they  place  it  beyond  doubt  that  among  all  the 
religions  of  the  earth,  Christianity  has  by  far  the  largest  number  of  adherents. 
Next  to  it  comes  Confucianism,  and  only  in  the  sixth  place  Buddhism. 

1  [This  phrase  is  the  common  German  expression  for  Christians  converted 
from  non-Christian  religions  through  modern  missions. — Ed.] 


414  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

activity  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  statistical  result  of  which 
amounted  to  scarcely  70,000  heathen-Christians,  it  is  only  since 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  we  have  carried 
on  missions  with  gradually  increasing  energy.  After  about 
80  years — up  to  1881 — there  were  (according  to  the  second 
edition 1  of  this  Outline,  in  which  the  negro  Christians  were  not 
included  in  the  reckoning)  2,283,000  native  Christians;  for 
1902-3  the  result  (without  including  the  7£  millions  of  negro 
Christians  in  North  America)  is  4,462,500,  i.e.  it  has  in  22 
years  nearly  doubled.  But  if  the  statistical  results  in,  let 
us  say,  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  are  about  equal  to 
those  in  the  first  three  quarters  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
that  is  the  statistical  proof  that  the  growth  of  Christianity 
far  exceeds  the  increase  by  birth.  We  have  no  desire  to  lose 
ourselves  in  trifling  calculations  2  as  to  how  far,  at  this  rate  of 
progress,  the  tortoise  will  have  gained  on  the  railway -train  in 
100  years;  this,  however,  is  indubitable,  that  the  missionary 
results  of  the  future  will  at  this  rate  of  progress  be  greater 
than  those  of  the  past.  Nevertheless,  the  present  attainments 
of  missions,  measured  by  human  standards,  must  still  be 
described  as  small.  This  verdict  cannot  be  essentially  altered 
by  a  reference  to  the  results  of  apostolic  missions.  The 
statistical  results  of  these  we  can  only  approximately  esti- 
mate ;  100  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  apostolic  mission 
there  were  perhaps  a  third  of  a  million  of  Christians — to-day, 
after  100  years  of  mission  work,  there  are  11£  millions.  Is 
that  not  much?  By  such  a  mechanical  comparison, — yes! 
In  comparison  with  the  missions  of  to-day,  apostolic  missions 
had  immense  advantages,  which  may  be  described  in  a  word 
as  a  gratia  praivcniens,  such  as  no  later  missionary  period  has 
shared;  all  this  was  favourable  to  their  success.  On  the 
other  hand,  there  stand  behind  the  missions  of  to-day  a  vast 
Christendom,  with  its  civilisation  and  its  temporal  power,  and 
an  army  of  workers  in  comparison  with  which  the  workers 
of  the  apostolic  and  sub- apostolic  times  seem  a  very  small 
company;  and  this  has  to  be  considered  in  estimating  the 
success  of  the  latter.  For  a  just  comparison  both  sides  must 
be  taken  into  account,  and  then  the  balance  of  much  success 
hardly  inclines  to  the  side  of  the  missions  of  to-day.  The 
earth  is  not  yet  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord ;  only  a 
small  beginning  has  been  made,  and  in  face  of  this  a  sober 

1  [Published  in  1883.-    Eb.  | 

2  Such  a  foolish  reckoning  is  i which  was  based  on  the  supposition  that 

in  the  year  1887  there  were  60,000  baptisms  of  heathen,  ami  this  was  regarded 
as  the  normal  number,  which  should  always  remain  the  same.  Nowthe number 
goes  far  beyond  the  double  of  that. 


ESTIMATE  OF   RESULTS  OF   EVANGELICAL  MISSIONS    415 

missionary  judgment  dare  not  shirk  the  question  whether  it 
does  not  partly  lie  with  the  workers,  both  at  home  and  abroad, 
that  by  this  time  the  result  is  not  greater.  It  is  a  short- 
sighted prejudice  always  to  lay  the  blame  of  this  deficiency 
only  on  the  still  insufficient  number  of  workers.  Our  home 
Christendom,  indeed,  has  not  yet  by  any  means  acted  in 
accordance  with  the  magnitude  of  its  missionary  task :  6800 
missionaries  for  1000  millions  of  non- Christians  justify  the  old 
complaint,  "  The  labourers  are  few  " ;  but  this  does  not  justify 
us  in  refraining  from  examining  whether  there  are  not  also 
defects  in  the  quality  of  the  workers,  and  errors  in  the  methods 
of  work,  which  have  prevented  the  attainment  of  greater 
results.     And  now  let  us  look  at  the  other  side. 

301.  To  read  Luke's  report  in  Acts  xiii.  and  xiv.  of  the 
first  missionary  journey,  it  does  not  seem  as  if  much  had  been 
accomplished  in  it,  although  it  lasted  about  two  years.  In 
four  places  congregations  had  come  into  existence  amid  much 
enmity  and  persecution,  with  presumably  a  very  small  number 
of  members ;  and  yet  the  apostles  are  glad  and  thankful  that 
God  had  done  so  much  with  them.  Why  ?  Because  a  begin- 
ning had  been  made  that  was  sure  of  development,  and  in  the 
little  harvest  of  first-fruits  there  lay  the  seed  of  the  future. 
The  apostles  view  the  first  results  with  the  believing  look  of 
hope,  and  to  this  look  they  are  great. 

To  judge  fairly  of  the  missionary  results  of  the  present  day, 
we  must  consider  the  11|  millions  of  heathen  Christians  from 
these  three  points  of  view:  (1)  They  are  the  beginning  of  a 
harvest,  which  becomes  seed  again;  (2)  the  missions  of  to-day 
have  to  reckon  with  hindrances  which  greatly  interfere  with 
their  operation ;  (3)  the  success  of  missions  is  far  in  excess  of 
the  statistical  results. 

302.  As  has  been  already  remarked,  the  missions  of  to-day 
are  still  young.  Of  the  great  work  of  the  Christianising  of 
the  world  the  words  are  true :  "  A  thousand  years  are  with  the 
Lord  as  one  day  " ;  at  a  later  time  the  other  half  of  the  text 
will  apply,  "  and  one  day  as  a  thousand  years."  The  mission 
has  its  times  of  leisure  and  of  haste.  But  the  beginning  has 
the  characteristics  of  the  mustard-seed  and  the  nativity :  the 
growth  is  slow  and  invisible.  That  is  God's  way  of  building. 
Except  in  the  case  of  the  negroes  of  the  United  States,  and  of 
some  small  regions  which  have  been  Christianised,  the  missions 
of  to-day  are  still  everywhere  in  the  initial  stages,  and  it  is 
particularly  the  beginnings  of  missions  which  are  hard.  In 
truth,  it  is  necessary  to  observe  the  work  from  somewhat  near 
at  hand  in  order  to  understand  the  mountains  of  difficulty 
which  present  themselves  in  the  climatic  conditions,  the  alien 


416  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

character  of  the  people,  the  acquisition  of  the  languages,  and  in 
the  vain  manner  of  life  handed  down  from  the  fathers,  which 
offers  the  most  obstinate  opposition  to  the  new  Christian 
order.  Much  more  than  heathen  doctrine,  it  is  heathen 
customs,  especially  customs  consecrated  by  religion,  which 
occasion  the  chief  struggles  with  Christianity;  it  is  only 
necessary  to  think  of  caste,  ancestor-worship,  polygamy,  and 
circumcision.  And  conversely,  the  reaction  of  heathenism  is 
against  Christian  ethics,  the  new  moral  order  of  life,  far  more 
than  against  Christian  dogma.  And  a  long  time  is  needed  for 
this  reaction  to  lose  its  power.  What  has  been  done  hitherto 
has  been  mainly  in  the  way  of  preparation  and  foundation- 
laying,  and  the  work  of  foundation-laying  is  slow.  It  is  a 
great  matter,  however,  that  this  work  already  extends  over 
so  large  a  part  of  the  earth's  surface.  Just  as  an  army 
has  already  gained  a  great  victory  in  a  war  when  it  holds  a 
position  in  the  midst  of  the  enemy's  country,  even  though  it 
has  won  no  battle,  so  the  missions  of  to-day  have  also  gained 
a  great  victory  in  having  penetrated  so  deeply  into  the  midst 
of  the  non-Christian  peoples,  and  in  having  gained  a  permanent 
foothold  among  them.  But  already  also  battles  have  been  won, 
:and  if  the  11£  million  heathen-Christians  are  but  a  small  spoil 
in  comparison  with  the  still  gigantic  heathen-world,  they  are, 
nevertheless,  the  earnest  that  Jesus  Christ  can  and  shall  win 
the  victory  over  the  alien  religions.  In  our  time,  characterised 
as  it  is  by  haste  and  impatience,  it  is  found  to  be  very  difficult 
to  reconcile  one's  self  to  the  slowness  of  missionary  progress 
consequent  on  the  nature  of  the  work  and  the  large  number  of 
hindrances.  Even  believing  Christians  suffer  from  this 
malady  of  the  times,  and  because  they  do  not  succeed  rapidly 
enough  with  Christianisation,  they  set  before  themselves  as 
their  missionary  task  a  mere  evangelisation,  with  which 
they  hope  to  be  able  to  speed  quickly  through  the 
world. 

303.  The  difficulties  are  to  be  found  not  only  in  the  strange 
peoples,  languages,  religions,  and  customs,  but  in  the  many 
offensive  hindrances  put  in  the  way  of  missionary  success  by 
the  large  number  of  nominal  Christians  scattered  over  the 
world.  The  immense  world-wide  traffic  of  to-day,  with  its 
commercial  relations  and  occupation  of  colonial  possessions, 
brings  to  almost  all  the  mission  fields  ever  increasing  bauds 
of  Western  Christians,  the  majority  of  whom  live  a  life  which 
brings  shame  on  Christianity.  Had  Paul  to  bring  against  the 
Jews  of  his  time  the  accusation,  "The  name  of  God  is  blas- 
phemed among  the  Gentiles  because  of  you"?  Even  so  tin's 
accusation  cries  to  heaven  even  to-day  against  a  great  number 


ESTIMATE   OF   RESULTS   OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      417 

of  Christians  living  among  the  heathen.  And  that  not  merely 
because  of  the  many  sins  of  particular  individuals,  but  far 
more  because  of  the  inconsiderate  self-seeking  which  charac- 
terises the  whole  commercial  and  political  intercourse  of  the 
Christian  West  with  the  non-Christian  world.  While,  on  the 
one  hand,  trade  and  colonial  politics  are  opening  the  world's 
doors,  they  are,  on  the  other,  closing  the  people's  hearts  to  the 
Gospel ;  so  that  missions  have  liked  best  to  seek  their  field  of 
labour  outside  of  the  shadow  of  dispersed  Christendom.  When 
we  take  into  account  also  the  numerous  direct  temptations 
that  proceed  from  these  Christians,  and  their  many  malevolent 
attacks  on  missionaries  and  their  work,  and  the  questionings 
of  evangelical  truth  which  are  flowing  in  streams  from  the 
infidel  literature  of  Christendom,  and  from  intercourse  with 
unbelieving  Christians  into  the  heathen  world,  and  particularly 
among  the  cultured  people  of  Asia,  we  find  ourselves  confronted 
with  an  array  of  influences  in  opposition  to  Christian  missions, 
in  face  of  which  we  can  only  wonder  that  all  the  seed  sown 
has  not  been  utterly  trodden  under  foot. — And  there  are 
adversaries  of  another  kind.  Unfortunately,  it  is  not  an  united 
Christendom  that  is  engaged  at  present  in  the  propagation  of 
the  Gospel.  The  multitude  of  the  divisions  of  evangelical 
missions  has  a  confusing  tendency,  even  when  the  missionaries 
of  the  various  societies  do  not  compete  with  each  other ;  but 
the  intrusion  of  the  Eoman  Mission,  which  is  advancing  ever 
more  systematically  and  with  increasing  hostility,  is  destructive 
in  its  effect.1  Paul,  indeed,  had  to  complain  of  false  brethren 
who  crept  into  his  work,  but  what  evangelical  missions  have 
to  suffer  to-day  from  the  enmity  of  Rome  had  no  parallel  in 
apostolic  times.  Taking  all  things  together,  a  larger  share  of 
the  forces  working  against  the  influence  of  missions  must  be 
laid  to  the  blame  of  the  nominal  Christendom  of  to-day  than 
to  the  opposition  of  heathenism. 

304.  Finally,  it  would  imply  a  very  limited  conception  to 
reduce  the  success  of  missions  to  the  statistical  results.  In 
looking  at  the  numbers  of  the  present  day,  we  renounce  all 
foolish  boasting,  although  the  numbers  speak  when  they  are  in- 
terpreted in  a  living  way.  There  is  a  missionary  success  which 
cannot  be  statistically  recorded,  and  this  success  far  exceeds 
the  numerical  achievement  of  missions.  About  the  middle  of 
the  second  century  the  youthful  Christendom,  in  the  midst  of 
the  population  of  the  Eoman  world-empire,  formed  a  minority, 
not  only  decreasing,  but  also  little  regarded  ;  and  yet  the 
future  belonged  to  it.     It  represented  an  intellectual,  moral, 

1  Warneck,   Protestant.  Beleuchtung,  p.  322  ;  Roman  Intrusion  and  Prose- 
lytism. 

27 


41  8  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

and  religious  power,  that  was  ever  more  and  more  producing 
a  ferment  and  creating  an  atmosphere  which  at  once  exerted 
a  decomposing  influence  on  heathen  conceptions,  and  set  in 
movement  Christian  ideas  and  vital  forces,  and  so  prepared 
for  the  great  victory  of  Christianity  in  the  future.1  And  such 
a  process  is  going  on  to-day.  Not  only  in  India,  but  in  every 
place  where  missions  have  for  a  considerable  time  had  foot- 
hold, even  in  the  case  of  each  of  the  nature-peoples,  this 
ferment  is  arising,  the  new  atmosphere  is  being  formed,  and 
a  transformation  is  beginning  in  the  domain  of  the  intellectual, 
social,  moral,  and  even  industrial  life  which  marks  the  com- 
mencement of  a  new  epoch  in  the  history  of  civilisation,  this 
conception  being  taken  in  the  widest  sense.2  Often  the 
baptized  Christians  still  form  an  apparently  powerless  minority, 
and  yet  they  already  exert,  far  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
Christian  congregations,  transforming  influences  which  have 
the  significance  of  a  Christianising  education.  In  an  "  Out- 
line" of  missionary  history  it  is  only  possible  to  refer  very 
slightly  to  those  results  that  cannot  be  statistically  set  forth, 
but  which  at  the  same  time  become  means  of  Christianisation. 
To  learn  what  these  are,  and  by  learning  to  understand  what 
missionary  success  properly  is,  a  special  study  of  the  individual 
mission  fields  is  necessary.  To  stimulate  a  desire  for  such  a 
study,  and  to  form  an  introduction  to  it,  is  a  chief  aim  of  this 
general  survey. 

305.  It  is  quite  impossible  to  make  a  statistical  record  of 
the  quality  of  the  heathen-Christians.3  Naturally  the  most 
real  and  inward  missionary  result  is  Christians  won  from 
among  non-Christians  such  as  Jesus  recognises  as  His  disciples, 
who  are  not  merely  outwardly  converted  to  Christianity,  but 
show  by  their  lives  that  the  new  faith  has  made  new  men 
of  them.  How  large  the  number  of  such  Christians  is,  no 
statistics  can  show.  Undoubtedly,  it  is  not  inconsiderable, 
but  the  idealisation  of  the  native  Christian  congregations  as 
congregations  of  the  elect  does  not  correspond  with  the  actual 
state  of  the  facts.  They  are  fragments  of  national  churches, 
a  field  of  mixed  crops,  in  which,  amongst  the  wheat,  stand 
many  tares.  The  majority  of  the  members  of  these  congrega- 
tions are  rudimentary  Christians :  not  only  is  their  Christian 
knowledge  often  very  deficient,  but  their  life  is  also  marked 
with  many  spots  and  wrinkles.  If  they  are  clear  of  the 
grossest  heathen  pollution,  and,  in  comparison  with  their  past, 

1  Wameck,  Die  apostoliscJie  u.  die  modcrne  Mission,  Gutersloh,  1876,  p.  47. 

2  Wameck,  Mission  umd  Kulimr.  Dennis,  ('/iris/inn  Missions  and  Social 
Progress,  '■'■  vols.,  Now  York,  1897.  Mackenzie,  Christianity  and  the  Progress  of 
[fan,  etc.  ;  illustrated  by  Modern  Missions,  New  York,  1897. 

Note  1,  p.  413! 


ESTIMATE  OF  RESULTS  OF   EVANGELICAL   MISSIONS      419 

have  attained  a  much  higher  moral  level,  yet  in  many  respects 
they  still  lag  far  behind  the  Christian  ideal  of  morality.  With 
the  majority  the  transition  to  Christianity  is  not  identical 
with  that  which  we  call  conversion :  the  "  old  man "  is  not 
always  put  off  when  the  heathen  is  laid  aside.  The  field,  too, 
into  which  the  mission  is  casting  the  seed  of  the  Word  is 
more  full  of  weeds  than  the  church  field  at  home ;  so  that 
the  growth  is  threatened  with  greater  defilement.  Only,  one 
must  not  fall  into  the  opposite  error  of  making  the  colours 
too  dark,  and,  on  the  ground  of  individual  occurrences  of  a  very 
distressing  kind  within  the  young  native  Christian  congrega- 
tions, pass  a  general  judgment  of  condemnation  on  the  whole 
results  of  missions.  Leaving  aside  the  numerous  accusations 
that  rest  on  mere  gossip,  as  well  as  the  numerous  superficial 
judgments,  particularly  of  travellers  who  neither  have  religious 
intelligence  nor  have  taken  the  trouble  to  concern  themselves 
about  missions  on  the  spot,  to  generalise  in  this  way  is  some- 
what as  if  one  were  to  declare,  from  the  mass  of  news  which 
our  daily  press  loves  to  offer  of  all  the  wicked  deeds  that 
happen,  that  the  whole  German  nation  consists  of  thieves 
and  murderers.  The  comparatively  few  moral  enormities 
which  arouse  attention  are  collected  and  recorded,  and  the^ 
large  respectable  part  of  society  is  ignored,  as  well  as  the 
virtuous  life  which  is  led  in  quietness.  Even  in  apostolic 
times,  not  only  were  there  weaknesses  enough  among  the 
young  Christians,  but  there  were  even  hypocrites  and  apos- 
tates; and  yet  that  was  a  brilliant  era  of  Christianity.  At 
all  times  there  are  chaff  and  weeds  among  the  wheat;  how, 
then,  can  one  wonder  if  the  heathen-Christendom  of  to-day  is 
not  free  from  them  ?  There  is  shadow  enough,  but  with  it 
much  light  also;  and  this  light  shines  all  the  more  brightly 
when  one  marks  the  darkness  beside  it  from  which  it  has  burst 
forth,  and  amid  which  it  maintains  itself.  If  one  takes  account 
of  what  they  have  been  and  in  what  a  polluted  atmosphere 
they  live,  then  what  they  have  become  will  be  considered  no 
small  progress,  even  although  it  represents  the  dimness  of 
the  dawn  rather  than  the  full  light  of  day.  In  spite  of  all 
their  deficiencies,  the  Christian  congregations  gathered  by  the 
missions  of  to-day  are  a  salt  in  the  midst  of  their  heathen 
surroundings ;  and  in  spite  of  the  mean  aspect 1  worn  by  the 
missions  of  the  present  time,  they  are  a  work  in  which  one 
beholds  the  glory  of  God. 

306.  In  conclusion,  if  the  aim  of  missions  is  not  merely 
the  conversion  of  many  separate  individuals,  but  the  found- 
ing of   independent   national  churches,   self-supporting,  self- 
1  Germ.,  Knechtsgestalt,  "the  form  of  a  servant. 


420  PROTESTANT   MISSIONS 

governing,  self-propagating,  so  that  at  last  the  sending  forth 
from   the    old    Christendom    shall    entirely   cease,   have    the 
missions  of  the  present  already  attained  this  end  ?     No,  they 
have  not  yet  attained  it;  but  in  several  mission  fields  they 
are  at  least  in  the  position  of  approximating  to  the  attainment 
of  it.     The  present  missionary  era  is  still  too  short,  and  the 
people  who  are  the  objects  of  missionary  effort  are  still,  for 
the  most  part,  on  too  low  a  level  of  culture  for  the  final  goal 
of    missions,   complete    ecclesiastical    independence,    to    have 
been  reached  by  this  time.     The  comparison  with  apostolic 
missions  is  deceptive,  owing  to  the  total  difference  in  character 
of  the  conditions.     The  doctrinarianism  of  Independency  has 
here  and  there,  in  Hawaii,  for  example,  granted  independence 
to  a  young  native  Christian  church,  but  the  experiment  has 
always  had  bad  results.      Even  where  the  specific  work  of 
Christianisation  has  come  to  an  end,  as  for  example  in  various 
groups  of  islands  in  the  South  Seas,  in  the  West  Indies,  and 
in  Minahassa,  missionary  superintendence  cannot  yet  be  dis- 
pensed with.     Certainly,  in  the  initial  stages  of  missions,  the 
training  of  the  native  Christians  to  independence  has  been 
very  largely  neglected,  but  to-day  this  end  is  being  every- 
where laboured   for  on  principle,  and  with   great   diligence. 
The  financial  achievements  are  in  some  cases  already  so  great 
as  to  relieve  considerably  the  missionary  societies,  and  the 
native  pastors  and  teachers  not  only  increase  numerically  from 
year  to  year,  but  also  ripen  inwardly  to  growing  independence. 
Not  a  few  of  the  native  Christian  congregations,  indeed,  are 
lacking  in  aggressive  force ;  while  from  others  there  proceeds 
a  great  missionary  or  assimilative  influence.     In  most  of  the 
older  mission  fields  the  process  of  forming  national  churches 
has  already  begun,  and  while  at  present  it  is  still  mainly  in 
the  early  stages,  yet  from  decade  to  decade  it  makes  a  visible 
advance.     Whether,  indeed,  it  can  everywhere  be  brought  to 
the  final  goal,  to  full   independence   of   the   old   missionary 
Christendom,  is  a  question  which  at  present  no  one   could 
with  confidence  answer  in  the  affirmative.     The  inferiority  of 
a  great  part  of  the  non-Christian  humanity  of  to-day  beside 
the  civilised  Western  world,  which  is  ever  more  and  more 
overflowing,  dominating,  and  decomposing  it,  does  itself  create 
a  necessity  for  missionary  superintendence  even  as  a  bulwark. 
There  is  a   missionary  rhetoric  which  overestimates   the 
results  attained  by  missions  up  to  the  present  time,  and  there 
is  a  missionary  hypercriticism  which  undervalues  them.     In 
the  foregoing  work  the  attempt  lias  been  made  to  avoid  both 
the  one  extreme  and  the  other,  and  to  present  the  actual  facts 
as  a  sober  apology  for  missions. 


INDEX. 


A. — Persons. 


Note. — Names  marked  with  an  *  are  cited  as  authors. 


Abdul  Masih,  287. 
Adventists,  the,  230. 
Africaner,  240. 
Ahlfeld,  125. 
Ainus,  373. 
Aku,  222. 
Albrecht,  122. 
Algonquins,  181. 
Alifures,  331. 
Alleine,  50. 
Allen,  Dr.,  353. 
*  Allen  and  M'Clure,  49. 
Amirchanjanz,  134. 
Anderson,  101,  289,  299. 
•Anderson,  111,  299,  382. 
Anderson,  Dr.,  183. 
,,         Rufus,  111. 
William,  226. 
*Anderson-Morshead,  96. 
Anton,  62. 
Arayer,  304. 
Arawaks,  208,  211. 
Arbousset,  139,  248. 
Armenians,  276. 
"Armstrong,  95,  391. 
Arnot,  231. 
Arthington,  228. 
Aryans,  280. 
Ashanti,  124,  220. 
*Ashe,  261. 
Asselt,  van,  126. 
Athabasca,  185. 
Auer,  219. 
Auka  Negroes,  209. 
Austin,  211. 

Badaga,  305. 
Baker,  92,  304,  387. 
Baldaus,  44. 
Balduin,  27. 
Ball,  125. 
Balolo,  107,  229. 
Banerji,  295. 


Bantus,  226,  234. 
Bapedi  Christians,  249. 
Baptists,    203,    226,   228, 

277,  302,  309,  315. 
Bar,  325. 
Barth,  123. 
Bassa,  219. 
Basuto,  139,  238,  247. 
Bataks,  126,  328. 
Batchelor,  373. 
*  Batty,  92,  184. 

,,       missionary,  307. 
*Beach,  341. 
Bechuanas,  130,  240,  249, 

250. 
Beck,  177. 
Bengel,  123. 
Bentinck,  286,  290. 
Bentley,  87,  228,  230. 
Ber ridge,  71. 
Berry,  111. 

Besant,  Mrs.,  296. 
Bethmann,  Hollweg,  124. 
Beza,  22. 

Bhils,  307. 
Bhutia  Tribes,  314. 

Bickersteth,  92,  374. 

*Birks,  92,  272. 

*Bishop,  Mrs.,  353. 

Blackstone,  69. 

*Blaikie,  89. 

Blavatsky,  296. 

*Bliss,  86,  175. 

Blumenhagen,  25. 

Blumhardt,  123,  125. 

Blyden,  218. 

Blyth,  245. 

Boardman,  112,  316. 

Bodelschwingb,  von,  133 

Boegner,  256. 

Boers,  239,  247. 

Bogatzky,  56. 

Bogue,  88. 

421 


Bolder,  71. 
Bohme,  68. 
Bohnisch,  122. 
Bompas,  185. 
Boone,  114. 
Booth,  265. 
Borresen,  141. 
Bose,  295. 
Boyle,  49. 
Bradley,  317. 
Brahmans,  282. 
*Braidwood,  289. 
Brainerd,  68,  190. 
Bray,  49. 
Breckling,  37. 
Brett,  211. 
Bridgman,  111,  338. 
Brinker,  237. 
Brochmand,  27. 
Brooke,  331. 
*Broomhall,  107,  344. 
*Brown,  W.,  24,  174. 

,,        D.,  81,  288. 

,,      *T.,  100. 
Bruce,  92,  277. 
Bucer,  18. 
Buchanan,    CI.,    81,   109. 

288,  303. 
Budd,  182,  185. 
Buddha,  336. 
Bulu,  387. 
Burchell,  87,  203. 
Burke,  79. 
•Buxkhardt,  174. 
Burns,  99,  347. 
Busbmen,  234. 
Bush  Negroes,  208. 
Buss,  132. 
Butler,  69. 

*Caird,  280. 
Caldwell,  93,  285,  287. 
Calixtus,  26. 


422 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


Calvert,  97,  387. 
Calvin,  19,  23. 
Cambridge    Seven,    106, 

118. 
"Campbell,  46. 
Candidius,  44. 
Cappadose,  137. 
Carey,  68,  75,  80,  86,  87, 

285,  311. 
Carlyle,  Dr.,  99. 
*C'aroll,  113,  187. 

*  Carpenter,  316. 
Carswell,  317. 
Casalis,  139,  248. 
Cetewayo,  246. 
Chaka,  246. 
Chalmers,  89,  393. 

*  „        245. 
Charles  I.,  47. 
Charles  II.,  182. 
Charles  ix.  of  Sweden,  24. 
Chi  Negroes,  220. 
Chinese  in  Alaska,  179. 

,,       in  Australia,  396. 

,,       in  British  Colum- 
bia, 186. 

,,       in  Cuba,  199. 

,,       in  U.S.,  196. 
Ciirischona         Brethren, 

274. 
Christaller,  124,  220. 
Christian  vi.,  62. 
*Christlieb,  174. 
Clark,  92,  307. 
Clive,  79. 
Cockran,  183  f. 
Coillard,  139,  248. 
Coke,  Th.,  96,  202. 
Colenso,  246. 
Coligny,  23. 
*Collet,  295. 
*Collins,  304. 
Comber,  87,  228,  231. 
*C'omenius,  26. 
Constantine,  6. 
Cook,  Captain,  75,  379. 
Cooke,  Miss,  289. 
Coolies,    199,    208,    245, 

253,  314. 
Coolsma,  329. 
Coplestone,  303. 
Copts,  269. 
Cornwallis,  Abp.,  70. 
Corrie,  288,  308. 
Corvino,  338. 
Costa,  da,  137. 
*Cousins,  90,  257,  384. 
Cowley,  184. 
*Cox,  88. 

Cree  Indians,  181,  184. 
Creoles  (Seychelles),  253. 


Cromwell,  50. 
Crowther,  92,  222,  224. 
Crudgington,  228. 
*Cust,  281. 

Daimos,  357. 
Damian,  383. 
Dankaerts,  43. 
Dannhauer,  26. 
Darwin,  213. 
David,  Chr.,  60. 
Davilus,  46. 
Davis,  111,  361. 
*Dawson,  261. 
Day,  117,  219. 
Dayaks,  330. 
Deforest,  111. 
Delawares,  184,  190. 
*Denuis,    86,    174,    406, 

418. 
Diaz,  199. 
*Dickie,  226. 
Diestelkamp,  133. 
Dieterle,  220. 
Dingaan,  246. 
Doane,  394. 
Dober,  60,  63,  200. 
Doddridge,  68. 
Doll,  132. 
Dominicans,  198. 
*Dorchester,  113,  187. 
Doriflarius,  46. 
Dome,  v.,  25. 
Drachart,  62. 
Dravidians,  281,  310. 
Drose,  312. 
Dualla,  227. 
Duff,  Dr.,  100,  289. 
Duncan,  180,  186. 
Duraeus,  26. 
Dwane,  235. 
Dyke,  van,  276. 

*Eberhard,    Duke,   of 
Wurtcmberg,  56. 

Edkins,  Dr.,  343,  350. 

Edwards,  Jon.,  68,  86. 

Edwardes,  291,  307. 

Egede,  Hans,  58,  176. 
„      Paul,  58,  177. 

Ehinger,  27. 

Eichsfeld,  27. 

Eliot,  John,  48,  189. 

Elliot,  Ch.,  315. 

ElliS  98,  255,  *257. 

Elmslie,  307. 

Emde,  330. 

Ensor,  361. 

Erasmus,  8,  *9. 

Ernest  v.  Gotha,  26. 

Erskine,  Dr.,  99. 


Escande,  256. 
Eskimo,  176. 
Eugenius  IV.,  198. 
Evans,  184. 
Evhes,  127,  221. 
Eyo  Honesty,  226. 
Eyre,  88. 

Faber,    Dr.,    126,    132, 

272,  343. 
Fabri,  126. 
*Fabricius,  30. 

57,  284,  299. 
Falconer,  272. 
Fante  Negroes,  219. 
Fecht,  27. 
Feder,  61. 
Felasha,  274. 
Fenn,  92,  304. 
Ferguson,  219. 
Fingu,  238. 
Fisk,  111. 
Fitzpatrick,  307. 
Flad,  274. 
Flemming,  26. 
Fletcher,  71. 
Folke,  144. 
Fox,  92. 

,,    *George,  50. 
Francke,  42,  51,  52,  283. 
Franson,  144. 
Frederick    iv.,    51,    176, 

283. 
Freeman,  219,  222. 
French,   92,    272  f.,    288, 

307. 
Frere,  260. 
Fritz,  304. 
*Frobisher,  47. 
Fuhlas,  99,  222. 
Fukuzawa,  364. 
Fuller,  86. 

Gallas,   130,   258,   263, 

269. 
Ga  Negroes,  220. 
Gardiner,  95,  212. 
Garo  Tribe,  314. 
Geddie,  390. 
Geissler,  392. 
George  I.,  68. 
George  in.,  69. 
George,  King,  Taufaabau, 

386. 
Gerhard,  J.,  the  elder,  22, 
28  f. 
,,      J.,  the  younger, 
26. 
Gerhardt,  1'.,  26. 
Gericke,  57,  285,  329. 
Gerlach,  v.,  124. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


423 


•Gibson,  196. 
Gichtel,  33. 
Giles,  343. 
Gill,  385. 
Gilmour,  351. 
Gobat,  91,  274. 
Goble,  361. 
Goldie,  *205,  226. 
Gonds,  143,  310. 
Good,  227. 
Gorch,  295. 
Gordon  (Chinese),  340. 

,,       Gov.,  388. 
Gorke,  125. 
Gossner,  121,  129. 
*Graham,     47,     99,    175, 

314. 
Grashuis,  329. 
Graul,  128. 
Gray,  243. 
Greeks  in  Asiatic  Turkey, 

276. 
Greene,  111,  361. 
Greig,  99. 
Grenfell,  87,  228  f. 
Gribble,  396. 
*Griffis,  116,  357,  361. 
Grimshaw,  71. 
Grohn,  325. 
*Grbssel,  26. 
Grotius,  25,  137. 
*Grundemann,  174. 
Griindler,  68. 
Gryphius,  26. 
*Guiness,  Ger.,  105. 

„        Gr.,    107,   230, 
270. 
Gulick,  111,  361. 
*Gundert,  124,  174,  304. 
Gurkha  Tribe,  314. 
Gustavus  Adolphus,  24. 
Gustavus  Vasa,  24. 
Giitzlaff,    122,   125,   317. 

338,  341. 

Hagenauer,  122. 
Hagert,  313. 
Hahn,  126,  144.  237. 
*Haig,  270. 
Hakka  Tribe,  347. 
Hall,  110,  353. 
Hallbeck,  122,  239. 
Haller,  v.,  123. 
Hambroek,  44. 
Hamilton,  99. 
Hanaloa,  383. 
Hannington,  261. 
*Hardy,  362. 
Harms,  L.,  127,  129. 

Th.,  130. 
Hartzell,  114. 


Harvey,  71. 
Hasselt,  138. 
Hastings,  79. 
Hausa,  224. 
Havemann,  26. 
Haweis,  82,  88. 
Heber,  93,  287. 
Hebich,  124,  304. 
Heiling,  25. 

Heldring,  129,  137,  325. 
Hellendoorn,  331. 
*Helps,  197. 
Hepburn,  361. 
Herero,  126. 
Heurnius,  43  f. 
Hiakumes,  190. 
Hinderer,  91,  92,  223. 
Hindus,  310. 
*Hinton,  203. 
Hobson,  343. 
Hoffmann,  124. 
Hoklo  Tribe,  347. 
Hoornbeek,  44. 
Hopkins,  382. 
Horden,  92,  184. 
*Horne,  90,  384. 
Hottentots,  234  f. 
*Hough,  283. 
Houghton,  263. 
Hovas,  253. 
Hughes,  307. 
Hung-Sin-tseuen,  340. 
Hunnius,  27. 
Hunt,  97,  387. 
Huntingdon,  Countess  of, 

71. 
Hurones,  181,  192. 
*Hyde,  50. 

Iascke,  122. 
Ibo,  224. 
Igbara,  224. 
Iju,  224. 

Imaduddin,272,  295,  308. 
Indians  (in  Canada),  181  f. 

,,       (in  U.S.),  187  f. 
Inglis,  Dr.,  99. 
Iroquois,  181. 
Isenberg,  274. 
Israel,  G.,  61,  200. 
Ito,  366. 
Ittamaier,  133. 
Iwakura,  362. 

*Jack,  103,  267. 

Jackson,  Dr.,  180. 

Jacobites,  276. 

Jagga,  263. 

Jains,  282. 

Janicke,  57,  122, 125,  285. 

Jansen  (Johnson),  216. 


Jansz,  137,  329. 
Japanese  (in  U.S.),  196. 
Jaschke,  308. 
Jellesrna,  136,  330. 
Jensen,  132. 
Jesuits  (in  China),  338. 
Jewett,  300. 
Jimmu  Tenno,  357. 
John,    Dr.   Griffith,    343. 

351. 
Johnson,  223. 
* Johnston,  267. 
Jones,  389. 
Josenhans,  124. 
Judson,  110,  112,  315. 
Junius,  44. 

Kachin  Tribe,  315. 
*Kalkar,  174. 
Kant,  136,  325,  330,  332. 
Kamehameha,  383. 
Kanaka,  382,  396. 
Karens,  110,  141,  315. 
Kayarnack,  177. 
Kedung,  330. 
Kelling,  325,  332. 
Kemp,  v.  d.,  89,  135,  136, 

240. 
Kerr,  Dr.,  343,  347. 
Keshub  Chancier  Sen,  295. 
Khama,  250. 
Khasi  Tribe,  98,  314. 
Kicherer,  136,  240. 
Kiernander,  311. 
Killick,  203. 
King,  209. 
Kirkland,  191. 
Kleinschmidt,  122,  237. 
Knak,  125. 
Knibb,  87,  203. 
*Knight,  91. 
Knothe,  249. 
*Knox,  20. 
Kohlmeister,  122. 
Kolle,  91,  *216,    272. 
Koschi,  295. 
Kothabyu,  316. 
Krapf,  91,  92,  258,  274. 
Kroo  Negroes,  219. 
Kropf,  125,  242. 
Kriiger,  256. 
Kshatri)7as,  282. 
Kume,  358. 
Kwang  Su,  344. 

Lacroix,  89. 
Lancizolle,  124. 
Lange,  51. 
Laotse,  336,  350. 
Lapps,  24,  63,  142. 
Las  Casas,  de,  197. 


424 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


Laurwig,  62. 
Lawes,  385,  392. 
Lawrence,  291,  307. 
Laws,  Dr.,  103,  266. 
Lei  nun,  253. 
Lechler,  124,  347. 
Lecoq,  124. 
Legge,  89,  343,  340. 
Leibnitz,  v.,  41,  55. 
^Leonard,  110. 
Lepcha  Tribes,  314. 
Lepsius,  134. 
Lerius,  J.,  30. 
Leupolt,  91,  309. 
Leydekker,  44. 
Licht,  125. 
Liele,  G.,  203. 
Lier,  van,  243. 
Liloliho,  283. 
Livingstone,    76,  89,   95, 

214,  240,  250,  258. 
Lockhart,  343. 
Lbscher,  57. 
*Lovett,  90,  384. 
Luther,  9-17. 
Llitkens,  51. 
Lyman,  327. 

Mabille,  139,  248. 
Macdonald,  185. 
Macfarlane,  89,  392. 
*Mackay,  92,  261,  348. 
Mackenzie,  259. 
Mackittrick,  J.,  229. 
M'Leod,  291. 
Mahdi,  269. 
Mala,  300. 
Malays,  330. 
Maleo,  249. 
Mallet,  127. 
Manning,  91. 
Maori,  396. 
Maples,  Bishop,  96. 
*March,  212. 
Marco  Polo,  337. 
Marks,  Dr.,  316  f. 
Marshman,  87,  286,  311. 

,,  Mrs.,  289. 

Marsden,  Samuel,  68,  92, 

397. 
*  Martin,  343. 

Fr.,  200. 
Martin,  W.,  307. 
Martyn,  IL,  68,  81,  288, 

808. 
Masiza,  244. 
Mason,  112,  316. 
Maxwell,  848. 
Mayhew,  Th.,  49,  I    0 
Medhurst,  89,  -".I::. 
Meinicke,  378,  385. 


Meisner,  26. 
Mel,  C,  54. 
Melanchtlion,  14  f. 
Mencius,  350. 
Merensky,  D.,  125,  249. 
Methodists,  96. 
Meyer,  210. 
Miauts,  347. 
Michelsen,  390. 
Middleton,  287. 
Mikado,  358. 
*Millar,  R.,  73. 
Miller,  103,  299. 
Mills,  110,  218. 
Milne,  89,  338. 
Minaselt,  256. 
Mitchell,  100. 
*Mitford,  357. 
Moffat,  89,  240,  250. 
Mogling,  124. 
Mohammedans,  272,  30G, 

311,  337. 
*Moister,  95,  202. 
Monte  Corvino,  Johannes 

Von,  337. 
Montgomery,  291,  307. 
Moody,  91,  118. 
Moravian  Brethren,  58  f. 
Moricke,  124. 
Morrison,  89,  338. 
Morton,  J.,  90. 
Moshesh,  217. 
Mott,  119,  *151. 
Moule,  349. 
Mpondomise,  238. 
Mpongwe  Negroes,  227. 
Mtesa,  261. 
Muir,  291. 

Mullens,  89,  257,  265. 
Midler,  J.,  27. 
Munro,  304. 
Munson,  327. 
Murray,  89,  243,  392. 
Musaus,  27. 
Muschukulumbs,  98. 
Mutsu  Hito,  358. 
Mwanga,  261  f. 
*Myers,  88. 

Naga  Tribe.  314. 
Naraa,  237. 
Neander,  124. 
Negroes  (in  Africa),  215  f. 

,,       (in  U.S.),  193. 

,,       (in  S.  Am.),  210. 

,,       (in  West  Indies), 
198. 
Nesbit,  100. 
Nestorians,  276,  283. 
Neumeii  ter,  57. 
New,  98,  263. 


Newell,  110. 
Newman,  91. 
Newton,  Dr.,  308. 
Nicolas  v.  198. 
Nisima,  362  f. 
Nitzschniann,  60,  63. 122, 

200. 
Nobilis,  de,  299. 
*  Noble,  92,  194,  215. 
Nommensen,  126,  327. 
Norton,  310. 
Nott,  110. 
Nupe,  224. 
Nylander,  122,  216. 

Occum,  191. 
Ochs,  141. 
(Esterzee,  137. 
Ojibwas,  181,  184. 
Olcott,  Col.,  296. 
Olopun,  337. 
Olsen,  Isaak,  58. 
Oneidas,  191. 
Oppermann,  249. 
Osiander,  27. 
Ottow,  392. 
Oxenbridge,  50. 

Pacalt,  122. 
Pahari,  312. 
Palmerston,  198. 
Panschamas,  294. 
Pantanus,  283. 
Papuas,  133,  396. 
Parker,  343. 
Parsees,  282. 
Parsons,  111,  227. 
Paton,  390. 

Patteson,  95,  390,  391. 
Payne,  Bish.,  219. 
Pelzer,  125. 
Peun,  W.,  50,  187. 
Perry,  360. 

Pfander,  91,123,272,309. 
Philip,  Dr.,  210. 
Philip,  King,  190. 
Philips,  89. 

Pierson,  152,  *216,  406. 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  i , . 
Pless,  von,  60,  62. 
Pliitschau,  51,  283. 
Plymouth  Brethren,  210. 
Polnick,  134. 
Pomare,  384. 
Ponda,  246. 
Poudo  Tribe,  238. 
Poor,  111. 
Porta,  27. 

Portuguese,  198,  208. 
Posselt,  125. 

l'ost,   'J  10. 


INDEX   OF   PERSONS 


425 


Praetorius.  26. 
Pratt,  386. 
Presbyterians,  145. 

Scot.  P.,  225,  244. 

Amer.  P.,  230,  275. 

N.  Amer.  P.,  277. 

S.  Amer.  P.,  230. 
Prideaux,  50. 
Prinsterer,  137. 
*Pritchard,  384. 
*Prout,  89,  385. 
Punti,  347. 
Puritans,  189. 
Pusey,  91. 

Quakeks,  187,  255. 
*Quistorp,  30. 

Radama,  254. 
Raleigh,  W.,  47. 
Ramabai,    Pandita,    297, 

306. 
Ram  Mohim  Roy,  295. 
Ramseyer,  124,  220. 
Ranavalona,  254. 
Ranch,  122,  191. 
Raue,  Prof.,  41. 
Rebmann,  91,  258. 
Redslob,  308. 
Reid,  114. 

Rhenius,  91,122,285,299. 
Rhijn,  v.,  137. 
Rhymdyk,  45. 
Ribbentrop,  309. 
Rice,  110,  112. 
Richards,  110. 
Richier,  23. 
Ridley,  307. 
Riedel,  122,  136,  331. 
Riel,  185. 
Riggs,  D.,  277. 
Riis,  124,  220. 
Ringeltaube,  303. 
Roder,  v.,  124. 
*Romaine,  71. 
Ronne,  140. 
Roskott,  325,  332. 
Rosoherina,  254. 
Ross,  Dr.,  103,  352. 
*Rowe,  387. 
*Rowlands,  71. 
*Rowley,  260. 
Russel,  349. 
*Rutherford  and  Glenny, 

270. 
*Ryle,  71. 

Sadrach,  330. 
Sakalava,  253. 
Saker,  87,  226. 
Samurais  (Daimios),  357. 


Sa  Quala,  316. 
Saravia,  20  f. 
Sargent,  92,  287. 
Satthiauadhan,  295,  299. 
Schereschewsky,  114. 
Schirnding,  v.,  122. 
Schleiermacher,  130. 
Schmel'en,  97,  122,  240. 
Schmidt,  G.,  74. 
Schneller,  275. 
Schon,  91. 
Schreuder,  141. 
Schroder,  325. 
Schultze,  284,  299. 
Schumann,  209. 
Schuurmann,  138. 
Schwartz,    57,    68,    284, 

331. 
Scriver,  40. 
Scudder,  111,  300. 
Scultetus,  26. 
Sechele,  250. 
Secucini,  249. 
Seelye,  Miss,  297. 
Sekukuni,  249. 
Selwyn,  Bp.,  95,  397. 
Serampore  Trio,  280,311. 
Serfojee,  284. 
Sergeant,  J.,  191. 
Settee,  182. 
Shan  Tribe,  315. 
Shanar  (rice  farmers),  298. 
Shaw,  97,  241. 
*Sherring,  68,  89,  283. 
Sheshadri,  295,  306. 
Shogun,  357. 
Shoolbred,  307. 
Sierra  Leone   Christians, 

218. 
Sikhs,  282,  307. 
Simeon,  90,  288. 
Simpson,  119,  400. 
Singamangaradja,  328. 
Singhalese,  301. 
Skrefsrud,  141,    312. 
Smith,  183,  210,  276,  309, 

343. 
*Smith,   G.,  47,  76,  93, 

100,  174. 
*Smith,  Th.,  6. 
Smythies,  96,  260. 
Sorensen,  61. 
Sothos,  247. 
Soto  Indians,  181. 
Spangenberg,  66,  71,  201. 
Spener,  39. 
Spittler,  123,  274. 
Staeli,  Anna,  65. 

,,       Ch.,  63. 

„       Matt.,      63,     122. 
177. 


Stanley,     92,    228.    259, 

261. 
Steere,  96,  260. 
Steinkopf,  123,  241. 
Steller,  325,  332. 
Stewart,  Dr.,  103,  244. 
Stirling,  212. 
♦Stock,  70,  93,  357. 
Stockfleth,  24. 
Strict  Baptists,  88. 
Studd,  106. 
Sudra,  282. 
Sundermann,  329. 
Swain,  Miss,  297. 

Tai-tsung,  337. 
Tamuls,    117,    128,    141, 

301. 
Taufaahau,  386. 
Tauftmann,  332. 
Taylor,     H.,     105,     341, 
406. 

„       W.,  114,  219,  230, 
231'. 
Teelinck,  43. 
Temple,  R.,  291. 
Tennison,  Dr.,  50. 
Thai,  317. 
Thakombau,  387. 
Theebaw,  316. 
Thoburn,  309. 
Tholuck,  124. 
Thomas   Christians,   283, 

303. 
Thomas,  Apostle,  283. 
,,         Surgeon,  87. 
Thomason,  288. 
♦Thompson,   47,   48,  64, 

191. 
Tiyo  Soga,  245. 
Toda,  305. 
*Toplady,  71. 
Townsend,  92,  222. 
Tracy,  111. 
Truchsess,  27. 
Trumpp,  307. 
Truro,  71. 
Tukudhs,  181,  185. 
Turner,  Polhill-,  106. 
„       Bishop,  115,  235. 
,,       G.,  386. 
Tuuk,  v.  d.,  327. 

Udemann,  43. 
Umselekasi,  246. 
*Underhill,  88,  203. 
Underwood,  Dr.,  353. 
Urlsberger,  A.,  123. 

S.,  56,  123. 
Ursinius,  J.,  37. 


426 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


*Vahl,  174. 
Vaisya,  282. 
Valentijn,  44. 
Vasa,  G.,  24. 
Vaughan,  281. 
Veiel,  26. 
Venn,  H.,  71,  91. 

„      J.,  90. 
Verbeck,  Dr.,  116,  *357, 

361. 
Vertrecht,  44. 
Vey  Negroes,  219. 
Vietor,  127. 
Villegaignon,  23. 
Volkening,  126. 
*Voltaire,  187. 
Vos,  243. 

Waddell,  226. 
Wade,  112,  316. 
Wabehe,  125,  264. 
Wakefield,  98,  263. 
Walaus,  44. 
Walmann,  125. 
Wangemann,  125. 
Ward,  87,  286,  311. 
Wasmutb,  41. 
•Watt,  109. 
Wattewille,  v.,  59. 
Weigle,  124. 


Weitbrecbt,  91,  313. 
Wellesley,  286. 
Welsh  Methodists,  315. 
Weltz,  32. 
Wenger,  87. 
Wesley,  J.,  70,  71. 
*West,  386. 
West,  J.,  182. 
Westen,  v.,  24,  58. 
Westlind,  230. 
Whately,  270. 
Wheelock,  191. 
Whitefield,  G.,70,  71,  96. 
*Wiggers,  174. 
Wilberforce,    71,   81,   90, 

287 
Wilder,  118. 
William  in.,  51. 
Williams,  J.,  89,  385  f. 

,,         Bishop,  114. 

,,         (China),    *334, 
343. 
*AV.    397. 
Wilson,  89,  100,  289. 
Winslow,  111. 
Winter,  249. 
*Wishard,  119. 
Witboi,  237. 
Witt,  134. 
Witteveen,  137,  327. 


Wolfall,  47. 
Wolfe,  92,  348. 
Wray,  210. 
Wu-toung,  337. 

Xaviek,  283,  359. 
Xosa  Kaffirs,  238. 

Yates,  87. 
Yokoi,  362,  367. 
*Yonge,  95,  391. 
*Young,  78. 
Yu  Hsien,  344. 

*Zahn,  127,  174. 
Zaremba,  123,  277. 
Zeisberger,  122,  184,  191. 
Zentgrav,  27. 
Ziegenbalg,    51,    57,    68, 

283. 
Ziemann,  309. 
Ziemendorff,  134. 
Zimmer,  331. 
Zimmermann,  124,  220. 
Zimshis,  186. 
Zinzendorf,  71,  177,  209, 

402. 
Zulus,  142,  245. 
Zwemer,  116,  276. 
Zwingli.  19. 


B. — Places  and  Subjects. 


I. — Island. 
R. — River. 
S.  or  Soe. — Society. 

Abeokuta,  222. 
Abetisi,  220. 
Abokobi,  220. 
Aburi,  220. 
Abyssinia,    25,    26,    124, 

258,  269. 
Abyssinian  Church,  274. 
Ada,  220. 
Adamshoop,  249. 
Aden,  278. 
Afghanistan,  307. 
Africa,  214  f. 

,,       East,  258. 

,,      North,  268. 

,,      South,  2:i3. 

S.  -  W.     German, 
237. 

,,      West,  215. 


Abbreviations. 

M. — Missiou. 
Ms. — Missions. 
Mis.  — Missionary. 

Africa    Union,    Evangeli- 
cal, 264. 
African    Fastors,    South, 
235. 
,,         Islands,  253. 
,,        Lakes  Coy.,  266. 
Meth.  Ep.   Ch., 
115. 
Agra,  308. 
Agu,  221. 
Ahmednagar,  306. 
Aintab,  277. 
Ajermadidi,  331. 
Ajmeer,  307. 
Akropong,  220. 

Alaska,  116,  179. 
All. ina,  209. 
Akra,  220. 


Am. — American. 
Af. — African. 


Aleutians,  179. 
Alexandria,  274. 
Algiers,  270. 
Allahabad,  286,  308. 
Allgem.  Mis.  Zeitsohrift, 

175. 
Allgem.    Prot.    Missions- 

ver.,  132. 
Alliance    Missions,    120, 

131,  406. 
Alinahcira,  138,  324,  332. 
Alniora,  309,  314. 
Aluan,  328. 
Amalienstein,  242. 
Amatonga,  217. 
Anilioina,  45,  -1ti.  136. 
A  in  Iron,  321,  332. 
Amejovhe,  221. 


INDEX  OF  PLACES  AND  SUBJECTS 


427 


America,  176  f. 

,,        Central,  206. 
,,        North,  109. 
South,  207. 
Am.  Board(A.B.C.F.M.), 

110. 
Am.     Colonisation    Soe. , 

218. 
Am.  Mis.  Assoc,  112. 
Amoy,  111,  338,  348. 
Amritsar,  307. 
Amroha,  309. 
Anamabu,  220. 
Andaman  I.,  317. 
Andover,  110. 
Aneityum,  389. 
Angkola-Sipirok,  327. 
Angmagsalik,  177. 
Angola,  115,  231. 
Aniwa,  390. 
Annette  I.,  180. 
Antananarivo,  255. 
Antigua,  201,  202. 
Antilles,  Lesser,  201. 
Anum,  220. 
Anuradhapura,  303. 
Apaiang,  394. 
Arabia,  116,  278. 

„       South,  272. 
Arcot,  111,  299. 
Argentine,  208. 
Arizona,  117. 
Armenia,  173,  276. 
Armenian  massacres,  274. 
Asaba,  224. 
Asia,  279  f. 

„     Further,  276. 

,,    Minor,  276. 
Assam,  112,  314. 
Assiniboine  R.,  183. 
Astrolabe  Bay,  392. 
Athabasca,  185. 
Attabari,  315. 
Austral  I.,  385. 
Australia,  394  f. 

,,         South,  395. 
West,  395. 
Austr.  Immanuel  Synod, 

396. 
Awomori,  393. 

Badagry,  222. 
Baddegama,  303. 
Bagalen,  330. 
Bagdad,  277. 
Bahama  I.,  202,  203. 
Bahrein,  276. 
Bakundu,  227. 
Bali,  324. 
Balige,  328. 
Balolo  M.,  229. 


Baluchistan,  308. 
Bandawe,  266. 
Bangalore,  305. 
Bangkok,  317. 
Banks  I.,  389,  391. 
Bannu,  307. 
Banza  ManteTce,  229. 
Baptist  Mis.  Soc. ,  88. 
„       Am.  (A.B.M.U.), 

112. 
,,       Industrial         M. 
(Scot.),  266. 
Barbadoes,  201,  204. 
Bardwan,  313. 
Bareli,  309. 
Barharva,  312. 
Barisal,  313. 
Barmen  Mis.  Soc,  125. 
,,       China    Inl.    M., 
134. 
Basel  Mis.  Soc,  123,  405. 
Bassein,  316. 
Bassuto  M.,  139. 
Bataks  M.,  126. 
Batanga,  227. 
Batavia,  45,  136,  329. 
Bathurst,  216. 
Batu  I.,  329. 
Bavarian    Soc.      for     E. 

Africa,  133. 
Bavianskloof,  239. 
Bechuana  M.,  97. 
Bedouins  M.,  276. 
Begoro,  220. 
Belgam,  306. 
Belize,  207. 
Bellary,  305. 
Benares,  286,  308. 
Bengal,  286,  310. 
Bengali,  281. 
Benito  R.,  228. 
Berar,  310. 
Berbice,  209. 
Bergdamara,  237. 
Bergendal,  209. 
Bergische  Bible  Soc,  125. 
Berkel(Mis.  Sem.),  136. 
Berlin  I.,  125. 

„      II.    (Gossner   M.), 
129. 

,,      III.    '(Germ.      E. 
Africa),  133. 
Berlin  Jerusalem  Verein, 

131. 
Berlin    Women's    S.    for 

China,  131. 
Berlin    Women's    S.    for 

Women  in  Orient,  131. 
Beswaba,  301. 
Bethanien,  237,  248. 
Bethel  (Alaska),  ISO. 


Bethel  (Cameroons),  227. 
,,      (India),  313. 
,,      (U.S.),  191. 

Bethesda,  396. 

Betsileo,  254,  255. 

Beyrout,  275. 

Bhagalpore,  312. 

Bliamo,  317. 

Bible  Societies  —  Ameri- 
can, 110 ;  Bergische, 
125  ;  British,  108 ; 
Scottish,  109. 

Bible  Translations  — 
Arabic,  276 ;  Armen- 
ian, 277  ;  Batak,  328 
Bengali,  87 ;  Bechuana 
240  ;  Bulgarian,  277 
Chi,  220  ;  Chinese,  286 
note,  343  ;  Cree,  184 
Dualla,  227 ;  Efik 
226  ;  Ga,  220  ;  Green 
land,  178  ;  Indian,  48 
189  ;  Javanese,  329 
Kaffir,  242  ;  Malayese 
45  ;  Motu,  392 
Mpwonge,  228  ;  Nias 
329  ;  Nyania,  267 
Persian,  288 ;  Sin 
ghalese,  45 ;  Sotho. 
248;  S.  African,  236 
Sudan,  329  ;  Tibetan 
308  ;  Turkish,  277 
Yoruba,  224. 

BibliothecaTamulica,  128. 

Bihar,  310. 

Bihe,  111,  231. 

Biru,  312. 

Bismarck  Archipelago, 
391. 

Bismarckburg,  220. 

Bisrampur,  310. 

Blantyre,  102,  266. 

Blind  M.  to  Women, 
China,  131. 

Bloemfontein,  248. 

Bluefields,  207. 

Blythswood,  245. 

Board  of  Correspondence 
with  Scot.  S.P.C.K., 
190. 

Bochabelo,  249. 

Bombay,  305. 

Bomvana,  238. 

Bonjai  Stations,  249. 

Bonny,  224. 

Book  and  Tract  Societies, 
India  and  China,  405. 

Borneo,  324,  330. 

Bosiu,  248. 

Bosphorus,  275. 

Boxer  Rising,  China,  343. 


428 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Bradford  (Mass.,  U.S.), 
110. 

Brali manism,  282. 

Brahmaputra,  310. 

Brahmo  -  Somaj  move- 
ment, 295. 

Brass,  224. 

Brazil,  23,  46,  207. 

Bremen,  126. 

Brethren,  Moravian,  64, 
121,  177. 

Buddhism,  281,  337. 

Budu,  262. 

Buea,  227. 

Bullom,  217. 

Buluwayo,  251. 

Bunyoro,  262. 

Burma,  286,  315. 

Burnshill,  244. 

Buru,  324,  332. 

Busoga,  262. 

Busra,  276. 

Butaritari,  394. 

Byzantine,  255. 

Caddapa,  300. 
Cairo,  270,  339. 
Calabar  Estuary,  226. 
Calcutta,  93,  286. 
Caledonia  (Am.),  186. 
Calgary,  185. 
Calicut,  304. 
California,  192. 
Calutara,  303. 
Calvinistic  Methodists,  71 

note. 
Calvinistic      Methodists, 

Welsh,  98. 
Cambridge  M.,  259. 
Cambridge  M.  to  Delhi, 

94. 
Cameroons,  87,  118,  226. 
Canada,  97,  180. 
Canadian  Mis.   Societies, 

118. 
Canton,  338,  347. 
(Jape  Coast,  220. 
Cape  Colony,  238,  240. 
Cape  Dutch  Ref.  Ch.,  246. 
Cape  Palmas,  219. 
Cape  Town,  233,  240. 
Carnarvon(ScliietftmteiiO, 

241. 
Caroline  I.,  391. 
Cashmere,  307. 
Caspian  Sea,  275. 
Caucasus,  123,  276. 
Cawnpore,  308. 
Celebes  I.,  324,  331. 
Central  Africa,  257. 
Central  America,  206. 


Central  Provinces  (India), 
309. 

Ceram,  324,  332. 

Ceylon,  45,  87,  286,  301. 

Chanda,  310. 

Chapra,  309. 

Charlotte  I.,  185. 

Chartered  Coy.  S.  Africa, 
251. 

Cheefoo,  350. 

Cheenan,  350. 

Che-kiang,  349. 

Chemulpo,  353. 

Chiang-chin,  348. 

Chieng  Mai,  317. 

Chih-li  (Pe-chi-li),  342, 
350. 

Chili,  208. 

China,  87,  334. 

China  InlandM.  (C.I. M.), 
104,  128,  341,  350,  406. 

China-Jap.  War,  360,  366. 

Chinese  Ancestors,  Wor- 
ship of,  336  ;  Culture, 
335;  Hatred  of  For- 
eigners, 339 ;  Language, 
335  ;  Literature,  336  ; 
Religions,  336. 

Chinese  crisis  of  1900, 
343. 

Ching-chow,  350. 

Chini,  308. 

Chinomaki,  373. 

Chota  Nagpur,  288,  312, 
313. 

Chrischonaberg,  124. 

Christen  -  Werkman, 
(Dutch  Mis.  Soc),  137. 

Christian  Researches, 
Buchanan's,  304. 

Christiansborg,  124,  220. 

Church  Mis.  Soc.  (C.  M.S.), 
91. 

Clapham  Sect,  90. 

Clark ebury,  241. 

Cochi,  373. 

Cochin,  303. 

Coimbatoor,  300. 

Col.  do  prop,  lid.,  41  ; 
orientale,  55. 

Coll.  de  cursu  ev.  prom., 
52. 

Colombo,  303. 

Columbia,  186. 

Confucianism,  336. 

Congo,  87,  228,  231. 
, ,       Free  State,  22S. 

French,  228. 
,,       Inland      Mission 
229. 
M.,  229. 


Congregational  Union  (C. 

Colony),  240,  244. 
Constantinople,  276. 
Coomasee,  220. 
Copenhagen,  51,  62.  177. 
Corisco  I.,  227. 
Coromandel  Coast,  299. 
Costarica,  206. 
Cotta,  303. 
Cottayam,  304. 
Cottica  R.,  209. 
Countess  of  Huntingdon's 

Connexion,     71     note, 

217. 
CrishnaR.,  301. 
Cross  R.,  226. 
Cuba,  199. 
Cumberland,  183. 
Cunama,  269. 
Cunene  R.,  233,  237. 
Cunningham,  244. 

Dahana,  329. 
Dahomey,  221. 
Daimios,  360. 
Dakura,  207. 
Danish  Ev.  Ass.  for  China. 
141. 

,,      Mis.     Soc,     141, 
177. 
Danish-Halle  M.,  54,  57, 

121. 
Dar-es-Salaam,  264. 
Darjeeling,  314. 
Dawes'  Bill  (Am.),  188. 
Deccan,  280. 
Deep  Sea  Fishermen's  M. 

(English),  179. 
Dehra,  309. 
Delagoa  Bay,  247. 
Delhi,  30S. 
Deli,  136,  327. 
Delta   (Niger)   Congrega- 
tions, 225. 
Demerara,  209. 
Demon-worship     (India), 

281. 
Denmark,  140. 
D'Entrecasteaux  I.,  393. 
Depok,  138,  329. 
Dera  Ghasi  Khan,  308. 
Dora  Isniacl  Khan,  308. 
Diamond  District(S.  Af.), 

242. 
Disciples  of  Christ,  116. 
Domestic  Mission  (Ep.  N. 

Am.),  111. 
Dominion  of  Canada,  II  0, 
Doopsgez.  Vereen,  136. 
Bore  Bay,  392. 
Doshishn,  362. 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


429 


Drakenberg  Mts.,  247. 

Dresden  Mis.  Soc.,  127. 

Duab,  309. 

Dublin  M.,  94,  259. 

Duke  Town,  226. 

Diisselthal,  125. 

Dutch  Mis.  Societies,  136. 

East   London    Institute, 
107,  226. 

Ebenezer  (India),  313. 
,,         (Oceania),  395. 

Ebon,  394. 

Eclectic  Society,  90. 

Ecumenical  Mis.   Confer- 
ence, 175  note. 

Edendale,  246. 

Edinburgh    Medical   M., 
108. 

Efate,  389. 

Efik  Language,  225. 

Egypt,  270. 

Elberfeld  Laymen's  Soc, 
125. 

Elizabeth  I.,  190. 

Ellice  I.,  386. 

Ellichpur,  310. 

Ellur,  301. 

Elmina,  220. 

Emgwali,  245. 

Encyclopedia  of  M.,    175 
note. 

Endeavour  Soc,  118. 

Engano,  328. 

England,  47,  67,  86. 

Ephrata,  207. 

Epi,  390. 

Erie,  Lake,  184. 

Ermelo  M.,  137,  330. 

Erromanga,  389. 

Erytbrea,  269. 

Erzroum,  277. 

Eskimo  M.,  176. 

Espiritu  Santo  (Merena), 
389. 

Essequibo,  209. 

Evansdale,  246. 

Ev.      Missions  -  Magazin, 
175  note. 

Fairfield,  192. 
Fairford,  184. 
Faisabad,  309. 
Falkland  I.,  212. 
Farakhabad,  309. 
Fernando  Po,  226. 
Fife  Lakes  Coy.,  266. 
Fiji  I.,  387,  391. 
Fingol,  245. 
Finland,  144. 
Finnish  Free  Ch.  M.,  145, 


Finnish  Luth.  Mis.  Soc, 

144. 
Finschhaven,  392. 
Fisk  University,  194. 
Florence  Bay,  244. 
Flores,  324. 
Florida  I.,  391. 
Fly  R.,  392. 
Fokien,  348. 
Foochow,  338,  348. 
Foorah  Bay  Col.,  217. 
Formosa,  348. 
Fort  Moose,  183. 
Fort  Wrangel,  180. 
Fosterlands      Stift.      Ev. 

(Swed.),  142,  273. 
France,  139. 
Free      Baptists      (Am.), 

112. 
FreeCh.  of  Scotland,  100, 
244. 
,,  ,,   United,  103, 

244,  405. 
Freetown,  217. 
French  Switzerland,  139. 
Freretown,  261. 
Fried  enshutten,  192. 
Friends'  For.  M.  Ass.,  98. 

,,        Syrian  M.,  98. 
Frisia,  East,  126. 
Fuego,  Tierra  del,  212. 
Fuen-chow,  344. 
Fukuoka,  374. 
Fiikusima,  373. 
Furikawa,  373. 
Fusan,  353. 
Futuna,  390. 

Gaboon  R.,  227. 
Galle,  303. 
Gambia  R.,  215. 
Ganges  R.,  309. 
Gangkin,  350. 
Gansee,  209. 
Gantur,  301. 
Garenganze       (Katanga), 

231. 
Garhwal,  309,  314. 
Gbebe,  224. 
Geleb,  269. 
Georgetown,  210. 
Georgia,  191. 
German  Baptist  M.,  134. 

,,      Colonisation,  132. 

,,      MethodistM.,134. 

,,      Orient  M.,  134. 
German   "  Christenthum- 

gesellschaft,"       Basel, 

123. 
Germany,  16,  56,  67,  121, 

133. 


Gevest.  Gemeent.  (Dutch 
India,  settled  congre- 
gations), 326. 

Ghasipur,  309. 

Ghats,  303. 

Gierku,  225. 

Gilbert  I.,  393. 

Gin  trade  (Africa),  215. 

Glasgow  African  Soc  ,100. 
,,       Mis.  Soc,  100. 

Gnadenhiitten,  191. 

Gnadenthal,  239. 

Godavari,  301. 

Golbanti,  263. 

Gold  Coast,  219. 

Gondar,  124. 

Gondi,  310. 

Gorakhpur,  309. 

Gossner,  309,  311. 

Govindpur  (Gossnerpur), 
311. 

Grahamshall,  211. 

Grahamstown,  241,  243. 

Grand  R.,  189. 

Greek  Cath.  M.  (Alaska), 
179. 

Greenland,  58,  122,  176. 

Glioma  Land,  238,  245, 
247. 

Grundvig  Agitation  (Den- 
mark), 141. 

Guatemala,  206. 

Guiana,  Brit.,  209,  403. 
,,        Dutch,  208. 

Guinea,  French,  216. 

Guinla,  312. 

Gujarat,  305. 

Gujarati,  305. 

Gunong,  329. 

Guti,  300. 

Gwalior,  310. 

Haipeeabap,  301,  305. 
Hainan,  347. 
Haiti,  114,  200. 
Hakodate,  372. 
Halle,  52,  121. 
Hamasen,  269. 
Hamburg  Mis.  S.,  126. 
Handbook    for   For.    M., 

50  note. 
Hang-chow,  349. 
Hankey,  241. 
Hankow,  351. 
Han.  Luth.  FreeCh.,  130. 
Hanover,  130. 
Haputala,  303. 
Harmony  (Ship),  179. 
Harput,  277. 
Hasaribagh,  94,  312. 
Hashaugabad,  310. 


430 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Hatton,  303. 
Hauhauism,  397. 
Hausaland  M.,  225. 
Hawaii,  382,  403. 
Hawaiian   M.   (in  Micro- 
nesia), 147,  393. 
Heilung-kiang,  352. 
Hcnthaba,  316. 
Hereroland,  120,  237. 
Herian,  349. 
Hcnnannsburg   M.,   127, 

346. 
Ilermon,  248. 
Herrnhut.     Sec  Brethren, 

Moravian. 
Herschel  I.,  183. 
Hervey  I. ,  385. 
Hildesheim   Blind   Inst., 

132. 
Himalaya,       East,       M. 

(Scot.),  314. 
Himalaya,  West,  308,  314. 
Hindi,  281,  308. 
Hinduism,  281,  295. 
Hindustani    (Urdu),   281 

note. 
Hing-wha,  348. 
Hinnen,  347. 
Hiogo,  373. 
Hirosaki,  373. 
Hirosima,  373. 
Ho,  221. 

Hohenfriedberg,  264. 
Hokkaido,  372,  374. 
Holiness  Union  (Swed.), 

144. 
Holland,  42,  67,  135. 
Honan,  351. 
Hondo,  373. 
Honduras,  206. 
Hongkong,  338,  317. 
Honolulu,  382. 
Honor,  305. 
Hoogli,  313. 
Hopedalc,  178. 
Hope  Fountain,  251. 
Hudson  ia,  182. 
Hudson's  Bay,  182. 

Coy.,  182. 
Humene,  329. 
Hunan,  351. 
Huntingdon's,  fount  ess  of, 

Connexion,  71  note,  217. 
Hu-peh,  351. 
Hutabarat,  327. 
Hyderabad.     Sec  Haidcr- 

abad. 

Ibadan,  222. 
linabari,  373. 
Imerina,  254. 


Immanuel    Synod    (Aus- 
tralia), 130. 
India,  280. 
,,      Caste,  282. 
,,      Christianity       in, 

283 
„      Dutch,  324. 
,,      East,  Coy.  (Engl.), 
51,  78,  87,  287. 
,,      East,  Coy.  (Dutch), 

43,  326. 
,,       Further,  314. 
,,      Geographical    sur- 
vey, 297. 
,,      Languages,  281. 
,,      Mutiny,  290. 
,,      Population,  280. 
,,      Reform  move- 

ments, 295. 
,,      Religions,  281. 
Indian  Home  M.  (to  San- 

thals),  141,  147,  312. 
Indian    territory    (U.S.), 

188 
Indians,  M. to  (U.S.),  187. 
Indies,  West,  197. 

,,  ,,      Miss.    Ass. 

(Jamaica),  204. 
,,     West,Coy.(Dutch), 
46. 
Indo-China,  317. 
Indore,  310. 
Industrial  Ms.,  148. 

M.    (Taylor's), 
114. 
International    Mis.   All., 

119. 
Inyali,  251. 
Ireland,  97. 
Irungalur,  299. 
Ishinosaki,  373. 
Islam,  268,  327. 
Islington  Mis.  Sem.,  92. 
Ispahan,  277. 
Ivory  Coast,  219. 

Jabalbtjk,  310. 
Jaganath,  311. 
Jaibassa,  312. 
Jainpur,  312. 
Jaipur,  301. 
Jalut,  391. 
Jamaica,  201,  205. 

,,        Baptist    Union, 

Japan,  357. 

,,  Church  unions, 
364. 

,,  Geographical  sur- 
vey, 372. 

,,      Government,  357. 


Japan,  Religions,  358. 
Japano-Centrism,  366. 
Japano-Chinesc  War,  366. 
Java,  137,  324,  329. 
Java  Committee  (Dutch), 

137. 
Jerusalem  Stiftung,  275. 

,,        Association,  131. 
Jewish  Ms.,  275. 

Kabtle  M.,  107,  269. 
Kachari,  315. 
Kaffir  Wars,  244. 
Kaffraria,  238,  240,  245. 
Kagoshima,  374. 
Kaiser  Wilhelmsland,  392. 
Kalihari  Desert,  250. 
Kalimpong,  314. 
Kaluib,  270. 
Kamamat,  301. 
Kamaon,  309. 
Kanaka,  382. 
Kanara  district,  301,  303, 

305. 
Kanawasa,  373. 
Kandy,  301. 
Kangra,  307. 
Kannanur,  304. 
Kansee,  314. 
Kan-su,  351. 
Karens,  316. 
Karree  Mts.,  241. 
Kasai,  230. 
Katak,  311. 
Katanga       (Garenganze), 

231. 
Katblamba   (Drakenberg) 

Mts.,  247. 
Kavirondo,  262. 
Kediri,  330. 
Keetmannshoop,  237. 
Kei  R.,  240,  244,  245. 
Keiskamahuk,  243. 
Kendalpajak,  330. 
Kenia,  258. 
Keppel  I.,  212. 
Keswick  Gonf.,  91. 
Kcta,  221. 
Kettering,  86. 
Khartoum,  269. 
Khasia,  315. 
Klmkitoli,  312. 
Khyber  Pass,  307. 
Kiang-si,  351. 
Kiang-su,  349. 
Kiao-chow,  350. 
Kibwezi,  262. 
Kiel  Inl.  M.,  134. 
Kikuiju,  262. 
Kilima  Njaro,  258,  262. 
Kimberlcy,  242. 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


431 


Kingston  (Jamaica),  203. 
Kinkel,  312. 
Kioto,  357,  373. 
Kirin,  352. 
Kisserawe,  264. 
Kisulutini,  258. 
Kiung-chow,  348. 
Kiusliin,  374. 
Klondyke,  179. 
Kobe,  361,  373. 
Kochur,  307. 
Kodakal,  304. 
Kolarian  language,  280. 
Kolobeng,  250. 
Kols  M.,  309,  311. 
Kondar,  274. 
Konde  Land,  264. 
Kondowe  plateau,  266. 
Koranna,  238,  241,  248. 
Koraput,  301. 
Korea,  334,  353. 
Kotapad,  301. 
Krishnag.ili,  313. 
Kucheng,  339,  318. 
Kuchiro,  372. 
Kumamotu,  374. 
Kumiai  Kyo  Kumai  (Cong 

Ch.  Japan),  364. 
Kunavvar,  308. 
Kurdistan,  276. 
Kurg,  305. 
Kurku,  310. 
Kuruman,  240,  250. 
Kusaic,  394. 
Kuskokwim,  180. 
Kwala  Kapuas,  331. 
K\vang-si,  352. 
Kwai-chow,  352. 
Kwattahede,  209. 
Kwang-tung,  347. 
Kyelang,  308. 
Kyoto,  362. 

Labrador,  122,  178. 
Labuan,  331. 
Ladakb,  308. 
Ladrone  I.,  393. 
Ladysmith,  246. 
Lagos,  224. 
Laguboti,  328. 
Lagutoia,  212. 
Lahore,  253,  308. 
Lahul,  308. 
Lamu,  263. 
Langowan,  331. 
Laoling,  350. 
Laos,  317. 
Lapland,  58,  142. 
Lealugi,  248,  251. 
Lebannon  (Conn.,   U.S.) 
191. 


Lebombo,  247. 

Leeward  I.,  204. 

Leb,  308. 

Leipsio   Miss.    Soc.,    127, 

300,  305. 
Leper  Hospitals   (India), 

297. 
Lbassa,  314. 
Liaotuug,  353. 
Liberia,  218. 
Lifu,  389. 
Likoma,  267. 
Limpopo,  249. 
Livingstonia,  266. 
Loanda,  331. 
Lobethal,  227. 
Lodiana,  308. 
Lofoden  I.,  176. 
Lokoja,  224. 
Lomboc,  324. 
Lome,  221. 

London  Medical  M.,  108. 
,,        Mis.     Soc,     83. 
240. 
Lorenzo-Marquez,  247. 
'  Louisiade  I.,  393. 
Lovedale,  100,  244. 
Lbventbals  M.,  141. 
Loyalty  I.,  389. 
Lualaba  R. ,  231. 
Lucknow,  288,  308. 
Luebo,  230. 
Lufira  R.,  231. 
Lulongo  R.,  229. 
Luluaburg,  230. 
Lund  Mis.  Soc,  142. 
Lutheran     Churches     in 

U.S.,  116. 
Lutindi,  264. 

Macao,  338. 
Mackenzie  R. ,  185. 
Madagascar,  254,  403. 
Madras,  299,  300,  305. 

Christ.  Col.,  299. 
Madripur,  313. 
Madura,  284,  299. 
Mafeking,  251. 
Magila,  264. 
Mahratta,  305. 
Majaveram,  299. 
Malabar,  283,  304. 
Malacca,  338. 
Malan,  245. 
Malayalim,  303. 
Malta,  Orient.  School  in, 

274. 
Manaswari,  392. 
Manchuria,  334,  352. 
Mandaleh,  315,  316. 
Mandla,  310. 


Mangalore,  305. 
Mangeli,  310. 
Manihiki  I.,  385. 
Manilla,  394. 
Manitoba  Lake,  183. 
Mapoon,  396. 
Marash,  277. 
Marathi,  281,  303. 
Mardin,  277. 
Mare,  389. 
Margoreza,  330. 
Marianne  I.,  393. 
Maripastoon,  209. 
Maritzburg,  216. 
Marowyne  R.,  209. 
Marquesas  I.,  382. 
Marshall  I.,  393. 
Marsovan,  277. 
Martha's  vineyard,  190. 
Masei,  263. 

Mashonaland,  217,  249. 
Massachusetts,  187. 

,,  Coy.,  47. 

Massowab,  269. 
Masulipatam,  301. 
Matabeleland,  251. 
Matara,  303. 
Matsuye,  373. 
Mauritius,  253. 
Mavelikara,  304. 
Mecklenburg,  128. 
Mcdiugen,  249. 
Melanesia,  385,  394. 
Melan.  Mis.  Soc,  95. 
Melkavu,  304. 
Menado,  331. 
Mengo,  262. 
Mentawai  I.,  328. 
Merena,  389. 
Meru  Mt.,  261. 
Mesurado  Cape,  218. 
Methodist  Mis.  Soc,  96. 
Meth.  Episc.  Ch.  (U.S.) 

114. 
Meth.  New  Con.  M.,  97. 
Metlakabtla,  180. 
Mexico,  197. 
Midnapur,  311. 
Michigan,  117. 
Micronesia,  393. 
Mildmay  Conf.,  91. 
Min  R.,  348. 
Minabassa,  326,  331. 
Missouri  Luth.  M.,  117 
Modimolle,  249. 
Mohammedan  Ms.,  272. 
Mohammedanism         in 

India,  281,  282. 
Mojowarno,  330. 
Molepolo,  250. 
Molokai,  383. 


432 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Molucca,  326,  332. 
Mombasa,  258,  262. 
Moncullo,  269. 
Mongolian  M.,  334,  351. 
Monrovia,  218. 
Moose  Lake,  183. 
Moosonee,  184. 
Moradabad,  309. 
Moravian.     See  Brethren 
Moriaka,  373. 
Morico,  249. 
Morija,  248. 
Morocco,  270. 
Mortlock  I.,  394. 
Mosquito  Coast,  207. 
Mosquito  Reserve,  207. 
Moukden,  372. 
Moulmein,  316. 
Mount    Hermon,    Mass., 

118. 
Mphome,  249. 
Mpongwe,  228. 
Mpwapwa,  262. 
Muhlenberg,  219. 

M.,  117. 
Mukimbungu,  229. 
Muitan,  307. 
Mundakayam,  304. 
Mungo  R.,  227. 
Murea,  384. 
Muscat,  276. 
Muskingum  R.,  192. 
Mustard  Seed  Mis.  Soc, 

126. 
Mweru  Lake,  231. 
Mysore,  305. 

Nadiya,  313. 
Nagasaki,  374. 
Nagerevil,  303. 
Nagoya-Gifu,  373. 
Nagpur,  310. 
Nam  (Labrador),  178. 
,,     (Pennsylv.),  192, 
Namaland,  237,  238. 
Nankin,  350. 

,,        Treaty  of,  338. 
Nantucket,  190. 
Nasik,  306. 
Natal,  245. 
Natik,  189. 
Navuloa,  388. 
Naydujjett,  300. 
Negombo,  303. 
Negro  slave-trade,  197. 
Negroes  in  N.  Am.,  195. 

,,      re-settlement    in 
Africa,  216. 
Neilgheri  Mts.,  304. 
Nenturu,  372. 
X.  i  ik<-,  111. 


Nestorian  M.  (China),  337. 
Netherlands  M.,  326. 
Neuendettelsau  Mis.  Soc. , 

133,  392,  396. 
Neukirchen     Mis.     Soc, 

132,  329. 
New  Brunswick,  183. 
New  Caledonia,  389. 
Newchwang,  352. 
New  England,  187,  191. 
, ,  , ,  Company, 

49. 
New  Fairfield,  184. 
New  Guinea,  385,  392. 
New  Hebrides,  389,  390. 
New  Hermannsburg,  396 
New  Herrnhut,  178. 
New  Jersey,  191. 
New  Lauenburg,  391. 
New  Lovedale,  262. 
New  Mecklenburg,  391. 
New  Metlakahtla,  180. 
New  Pomerania,  391. 
New  South  Wales,  395. 
New  Westminster,  186. 
New  York,  191. 
New  Zealand,  390 
Neyur,  303. 
Ngami  Lake,  240,  250. 
Ngan-hwi,  351. 
Ngao,  263. 
Nguna,  390. 
Nias,  329. 
Nicaragua,  206. 
Nicobar  I.,  317. 
Niger  Delta  Congs.,  225. 
Niger  M.,  224. 
Nigeria,  Northern,  269. 
,,        Southern,  226. 
Niigata,  373. 
Ningpo,  338,  349. 
Nippon     Kirisuto    Kv<>k 

wai,  364. 
Nippon    Sei    Kyo   Kuwai 

(Ep.  Ch.  Japan),  364. 
Niue,  385. 
Nkole,  262. 
Noble  College,  301. 
Nodoa,  348. 
Nonouli,  394. 
Norfolk  I.,  390. 
North  Africa  M.,  107. 
North  German  Mis.  Soc., 

126. 
North  -  West     Provinces 

(India),  308. 

Norwegian  Mis.  Soc,  142. 

,,         ChinaM.,  141. 

,,         East     African 

(Free)     Mis. 

Soc,  112. 


Norwegian  Lutheran  Mis. 

Soc,  142. 
Nova  Scotia,  183. 
Nsaba,  220. 
Nukapu,  391. 
Xyasoso,  227. 
Nyassa,  243,  266. 
M.,  103. 
Nyenhangli,  347. 

Oahtt,  382. 
Obochi,  224. 
Oceania,  378. 

,,        Ev.  Mis.  in,  380. 
Odiya,  301. 
Odumase,  220. 
Ogbonoma,  224. 
OgoweR.,  227. 
Oil  Rivers,  224. 
Okahandja,  237. 
Okak,  17*8. 
Okayama,  373. 
Okrika,  224. 
Old  Calabar,  226. 

,,  Bay  of,  225. 

Ombolata,  329. 
Omdurman,  269. 
Onde  Ondo,  222. 
Ongole,  300. 
Onitsha,  224. 
Ontario,  183. 
Opium  trade,  339. 

,,      Wars,  339. 
Orange  Free  State,  218. 

„      R.,  237,  245. 
Oriental  Prot.  Churches, 

273. 
Orissa,  311. 
Osaka,  373. 
Ostergothland  Mis.  Soc, 

144. 
Othman,  Sheikh,  278. 
Otjimbingue,  237. 
Ottakamand,  304. 
Oude,  308. 
Oyambo,  237,  238. 
Oxford  M.,  227. 

,,      M.  to  Calcutta,  94, 
313. 

,,      Brotherhoodofthe 
K  pi  plumy,  94. 
Ozun  R.,  222. 

I'  \t'll  \mi;a,   313. 

1 

I 
I 
I 
1 
I 
1 


idang,  327. 
adang  Bolak,  327. 
aliari  M.,  312. 
alamkotta,  298. 
destine,  274. 
angaloan,  327. 
ang-chuang,  3.">0. 


INDEX  OF  PLACES  AND  SUBJECTS 


433 


Pansur-na-pita,  327. 
Paori,  309. 

Pao-ting-fu,  344  note. 
Papua,  392,  394. 
Paraguay,  208. 
Paramaribo,  208. 
Paris  Mis.  Soc,  139,  385. 
Patagonian  M.,  95. 
Patna,  310. 
Paueharuas,  300. 
Pearadja,  327. 
Pe-chi-li,  350. 
Pekin,  350. 
Pelew  I.,  393. 
Pennsylvania,  187,  191. 
Periodicals,  56  note,  175. 
Pemambuco,  46. 
Persia,  276. 
Perth  (Australia),  396. 
Peru,  207. 
Peshawar,  307. 
Phalapye,  250. 
Pharus  Mis.  Ev. ,  54. 
Philippine  I.,  324. 
Pilgerhut,  209. 
Pilgrim  M.,  124. 
Plassey,  79. 
Pniel,  242. 
Point  Barrow,  180. 
Point  Macleay,  396. 
Polynesia,  324,  393. 
Ponaberi,  227. 
Ponape,  394. 
Pondoland,  245. 
Poona,  306. 
Popo,  Little,  221. 
Poreiar,  299. 
Port  Arthur,  141,  353. 
Port  Elizabeth,  241. 
Port  Lokkoh,  217. 
Port  Moresby,  392. 
Presbyterian  Ms.  Amer. , 

115. 
r,     Engl., 

98. 
,-,     Irish, 

98. 
,,  ,,     Scotch, 

99. 
,,     Welsh, 
98  note. 
Pretoria,  249. 
Prim.  Meth.  Mis.  Soc,  98. 
Prince  Edward  I.,  183. 
Prome,  316. 

Prot.Epis.Ch.(Am.),114. 
Pu,  308. 

Puerto  Rico,  200. 
Pulo-Penang,  318. 
Punjaub,  308. 
Punjaubi,  281,  307. 
28 


Puri,  311. 
Purulia,  312. 
Pushtu,  307. 
Pyeng-yang,  353. 

Qua  Ibo,  226. 
Quaker  Ms.,  98. 
Qu'appelle,  185. 
Quebec,  183. 
Queensland,  396. 
Queenstown,  241. 
Quilon,  303. 

Rabai,  261,  263. 

Race  question  in  S.  Af., 

234. 
Raghavapuram,  301. 
Raiatea,  385. 
Rajamandri,  301. 
Rajgangpur,  312. 
Rajmahal  Mts.,  312. 
Rajputana,  305,  308. 
RalikL,  394. 
Ramahyuk,  395. 
Ranchi,  94,  311. 
Rangoon,  316. 
Rarotonga,  385. 
Ratahan,  331. 
KatakL,  394. 
Rationalism  in  Engl.,  82. 

,,       in  Germany,  67. 
Rattan,  207. 
Red  River,  184.      . 
Reform.      (Dutch       and 
Germ.)     Chs.     in     N. 
Am.,  116. 
Reform.  Presb.  Ch.  (Scot- 
land, 103. 
Rehoboth,  237. 
Religious  Tract  Soc,  109. 
Rembang,  330. 
Rhenish  Mis.   Soc,  126, 

328. 
Rhodesia,  251. 
Ribe\  263. 
Rio  del  Rey,  226. 
Rio  Pongo,  216. 
Robert    Col.    (Constanti- 
nople, 277. 
Rohilkand,  309. 
Roman  Cath.  Ms.  in — 

China,  338. 

India,  283. 

Japan,  359. 

Madagascar,  255. 
Romande  M.,  140. 
Rook  I.,  394. 
Rotterdam,  136. 
Rotti,  326. 
Rovuma,  260. 
Ruapuke,  398. 


Rupertsland,  182. 

Russia,  314. 

Russian     Baltic      Prov., 

126. 
Rustenburg,  249. 

Sacalava,  253. 
Sagar,  310. 
Salatiga  M.,  137. 
Salisbury,  251. 
Salvation  Army,  330. 
Samarang,  330. 
Samoa  I.,  386. 
San  Domingo,  203. 
San  Salvador,  206,  231. 
Sandwich  I.,  382. 
Sangi  I.,  324,  332. 
Sannaga  R.,  227. 
Santa  Cruz,  391. 
Santhalistan,  311,  313. 
Santhalpur,  312. 
Sapporo,  373. 
Sarah  Tucker  Inst.,  298. 
Sarawacca  R.,  209. 
Sarawak,  327,  331. 
Saron,  249. 
Saskatchewan,  185. 
Savage  I.,  385. 
Sawu,  324,  332. 
Scandinavia,  139,  314. 
Schamachi,  277. 
Schietfontein,  241. 
Schleswig  -  Holstein  Mis. 

Soc,  131,  301. 
Schuscha,  277. 
Schwegjin,  314. 
Scinde,  307. 
Scindi,  305. 

Scottish  Estab.  Ch.,  101. 
Free  Ch.,  100. 
,,       Mis.  Soc,  100. 
„       U.P.  Ch.,103. 
Se-chuen,  351. 
Sefula,  248,  251. 
Selkirk,  185. 
Seminar.  Indie,  44. 
Sendai,  373. 
Senegal,  215. 
Senegambia,  215. 
Seoul,  353. 
Serampore,  286,  311. 
Sesheke,  248,  251. 
Seventh  -  day    Bapt.    M. 

(Am.),  112. 
Seychelle  I.,  253,  262. 
Shanghai,  338,  350. 
Shan-se,  351. 
Shan-tung,  350. 
Sharon,  241. 
Sheikh  Othman,  278. 
Shekomeko,  191. 


434 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


Shen-si,  351. 
Sherboro  I.,  217. 
Shiali,  299. 
Shikoku,  373. 
Sliillong,  315. 
Shimonosaki,  373. 
Shin-kiang,  350. 
Shintoism,  358. 
Shirt5  Highlands,  265. 
Shoshong,  250. 
Siam,  317. 
Siboga,  328. 
Sibsagar,  314. 
Sierra  Leone,  216,  224. 
Sikandra,  309. 
Sikkim,  314. 
Silindung,  327. 
Silo,  240. 
Simla,  307. 
Simorangkir,  327. 
Singapore,  318. 
Sipirok,  327. 
Sipoholon,  327. 
Sitka,  180. 
Sitoli,  329. 
Slave  Coast,  221. 
Slave-trade,  197. 
Slaves  freed  in  W.  Indies, 

199. 
Societe     des     miss.     ev. 

(Paris),  139. 
Society  I.,  385. 
Solomon  I.,  391. 
Sonder,  331. 
Soudan,  225,  268. 

,,        Pioneer,        M. 
(Germ.),  134. 
South  Africa,  233,  238. 
S.  Af.  Mis.  Associations, 

146. 
South  America,  207. 
S.  Am.  Mis.  Soc,  95. 
South-Western  Is.,  332. 
S.P.C.K.,  68,  109. 

„         (Scot.),  68. 
S.P.G.,  49,  68,  93. 
Spelonken,  249. 
Srinagar,  307. 
S'schuen,  314. 
Ssi-ngan-fu,  357  note. 
St.  Croix,  CO,  200. 
St.  Jan,  201. 
St.  John's,  243. 
St.  Kitts,  201. 
St.  Mark's,  244. 
St.  Matthew's  (Keiskama- 

huk),  243. 
St.  Peter,  184. 
St.  Thomas,  61,  200. 
St.  Vincent,  202. 
Stanley  Falls,  229. 


Stanley  Pool,  228. 

Statistical  summaries  of 
missionary  effort  in — 
America,  121  ;  Britain, 
109  ;  Germany,  135  ; 
Scandinavia,  144,  Total 
Protestant,  145. 

Statistical  summaries  of 
missionary  results  in 
Africa,  270;  inAmerica, 
213  ;  in  Asia,  376  ;  in 
Oceania,  398 ;  Total, 
401. 

Statistics  of  Religions  of 
world,  412. 

Stavanger,  141. 

Stellenbosch,  241,  242. 

Stockbridge,  191. 

Straits  Settlements,  318. 

Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment (S.V.M.U.),  119, 
406. 

Suaheli,  264. 

Suchow,  350. 

Sudanese,  329. 

Sumatra,  324,  327. 

Sumba,  324. 

Sumbawa,  324. 

Sunda  I.,  324,  332. 

Surabaya,  330. 

Surinam,  208. 

Svenska  M.  Salsk,  142. 

Swatow,  347. 

Swaziland,  247. 

Sweden,  142. 

Swedish  Church  Ms.,  143. 
,,       Mis.  Soc,  143. 
, ,       Settlement       on 
Delaware  R.,  49. 

Switzerland,  French,  139, 
247. 

Syria,  275. 

Syrian  Orphanage,  124. 

Tabago,  201. 
Tabris,  277. 
Tahiti,  385,  387. 
Taiping    Rebellion,    340, 

350. 
Taiwanfu,  348. 
Tai-yucn-fu,  344. 
Takarma,  312. 
Talacheri,  304. 
Talaut  I.,  324,  332. 
Talitha  Cumi,  275. 
Taljhari,  312. 
Tamil  M.,  281,  298. 
Tamsui,  348. 
Tana  R.,  263. 
Tanga,  264. 
Tangalle,  303. 


Tanganyika,  254,  261. 
Tanjore,  284,  299. 
Tanna  I.,  390. 
Taoism,  336. 
Tapiteuea,  394. 
Tarawa,  394. 
Tasmania,  395. 
Tassukow,  351. 
Taungu,  316. 
Taveta,  261. 
Tavoy,  316. 
Teheran,  277. 
Tekonika  (Lagutoia),  212. 
Telugu,  281,  300,  310. 
Tembu,  238. 
Ternate,  324. 
Texas,  207. 
Thaba  Bosiu,  248. 
Thaba  Nchu,  248. 
Thebanna  Morena,  248. 
Thomas  Christians,  304. 
Tibet,  308,  334. 
Tientsin,  350. 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  94,  212. 
Timor,  324,  332. 
Tinnevelly,  299. 
Tiruwella.  304. 
Toba  Lake,  327. 
Togo,  220. 
Tokelau  I.,  386. 
Tokio,  373. 
Tokushima,  373. 
Tomohon,  331. 
Tondano,  331. 
Tonga  I.,  339. 
Tongoa,  390. 
Toro,  262. 
Torp,  144. 
Torres  I.,  3S9. 
Tractarian  Movement,  93. 
Tranquebar,  52,  283,  299. 
Transkei,  238,  244,  245. 
Transvaal,  248. 
Travancore,  304. 
Trevandrum,  303. 
Trichinopoli,  299. 
Trichur,  304. 
Trinidad,  201. 
Tulu,  305. 
Tunis,  269. 
Tura,  315. 
Turkestan,  143,  343. 
Turkey,  276. 
Turks  I. ,  203. 

Udapi,  305. 

Uea,  386. 

Uganda,  261,  262. 

Ujiji,  261,  265. 

Ungwana,  226. 

United  Free  Ch.  Scot,  103 


INDEX   OF   PLACES   AND   SUBJECTS 


435 


United  Meth.  Free  Chs., 

98. 
United  Presbyterian  Ch. 

(Scot.),  72, '103. 
United  Presbyterian  Ch. 

(Am.),  115. 
Universities  M.  to  Central 

Africa,  95,  259. 
Uuyamwesi,  264. 
Uperniwik,  180. 
Ural,  143. 
Urambo,  264. 
Urdu,  281  note,  307. 
Urea,  389. 
Uriya,  310. 
Urmia,  Lake,  277. 
Usagara,  262. 
Usambara,  260,  264. 
Usaramo,  264. 
Uslmwaia,  212. 
Usugara  Stations,  261. 
Usukama,  262. 
Utrecht  Mis.   Soc,   137, 

392. 

Vaal  R.,  238,  241. 
Valdesia,  247,  249. 
Vancouver,  186. 
Vanua  Lewu,  387. 
Vaud,  Free  Ch.  of,  140. 
Vedantism,  281. 
Veddahs,  301. 
Victoria  (Australia),  395. 


Victoria  (Hongkong),  347. 
,,       Nyanza       Lake, 
261,  262. 
Virginia,  47. 
Viti  (Fiji),  382,  387. 
Viti  Lewu,  388. 
Volta  R.,  220. 

Waitangi,  397. 
WakambaM.,  128,  263. 
Waldenstrom  Movement, 

143. 
Wales  I.  (Uea),  386. 
Walloon  Synod,  46. 
Wanhatti,  209. 
Wanika,  263. 
Warmbad,  237. 
Waterberg,  249. 
Wechquetank,  192. 
Weihien,  350. 
Weipa,  396. 
Welsh  Calv.  Meth.,  98. 
Wenli,  343. 
Wesel,  125. 

Wesleyan  Mis.  Soc,  97. 
West  Indies,  197. 
Williams  College,  110. 
Windhuk,  235. 
Windward  I.,  204. 
Winneba,  220. 
Winnipeg,  183. 
Wittenberg,  27,  57. 
Witu,  263. 


Women's  Societies,  108. 
Women's  Work  in  China, 

341. 
Women's  Work  in  India, 

297. 
Worawora,  220. 
Worcester,  241. 
Wuchang,  351. 
Wupperthal,  241. 

,,  Tract   Soc. 

125. 
Wuri  R.,  227. 

Yamagata,  373. 
Yangchow,  350. 
Yangtse-kiang,  339,  351. 
Yeddo,  357. 
Yesso  (Hokkaido)  I.,  357, 

372. 
Yokohama,  373. 
Yorubaland,  222,  224. 
Yukon  R.,  179,  180. 
Yunnan,  337,  352. 

Zambesi  R.,  233. 

„        M.        (French), 

139,  248. 
,,        Indust.  M.,266. 
Zanzibar,  260. 
Zenana  M.  in  India,  297. 

313. 
Zimshis,  186. 
Zululand,  245. 


Jff 


f/f' 


f™\.  411 J 

07-25-0B  32180     MC    |? 


on  Theological  Semmarv-Speep 


1    1012  01093  0081 


DATE  DUE 


HIGHSMITH#45115 


